Morvest Business group (MOR), the black empowered business support and ICT company, on Tuesday reported a 20% increase in its full year headline earnings per share following the company's restructuring.

Headline earnings per share for the year to end May 2011 were 6.02 cents, compared to 5.03 cents for the year to end May 2010.

The company reported a profit for the year of 30.1 million rand, or earnings per share of 2.13 cents, as it turned around the company from a loss of 237.8 million rand, or a loss per share of 44.70 cents, the year before.

Revenue increased 16% to 807.3 million rand and EBITDA climbed 36% to 104.8 million rand, reflecting an EBITDA margin of 13%.

The company, which has been listed on the JSE since 2004, declared a maiden dividend of 1c a share. Previously known as Simeka, Morvest transferred its listing from the AltX to the JSE main board in June this year.

Morvest said domestic operations performed well for the year reporting satisfactory margin growth. The company expanded its ICT offerings in the Nigerian market by the introduction of intergraph services to the energy sector.

The company's joint venture with an India-based entity has successfully helped counter pricing competition from the East, and has created additional capacity for servicing Africa, the company said.

During the year Morvest repurchased 13 million shares with a value of 2.1 million rand on the open market and it said it intended to continue repurchasing shares subject to appropriate timing.

Looking ahead, the company said market conditions were expected to remain challenging in a number of key markets, particularly in South Africa over the next 12 to 18 months, due to difficult macroeconomic conditions.

“Expansion further into Africa and internationally is a key strategic objective for the next 12 to 18 months, as significant growth opportunities in the emerging markets - primarily in outsourcing; ICT, resourcing; training and education - could offer an attractive counter to anticipated tough conditions locally,” it said. - I-Net Bridge