WBHO: CSS issues to hit earnings

Wilson Bayly Holmes Ovcon (WBHO) had impaired the value of its Mozambican pipe mill, Capital Star Steel (CSS), which would affect the group’s earnings a share, the company said on Friday. But the group’s headline earnings a share would be unaffected by the production stoppages at CSS, a subsidiary of its construction materials business, Capital Africa Steel. The group said that the expected cumulative effects of these issues had resulted in the economic value of the assets of CSS being materially less than their current carrying amount of R539 million, resulting in an impairment. – Roy Cokayne