Tongaat Hulett (TON) advised on Wednesday that its headline earnings per share for the half-year to end September 2012 are expected to be 604 cents per share - a 27.4% increase over the 474 cents per share reported for the same period of 2011.
Headline earnings are expected to increase by 30.5% to R654 million for the six months‚ compared to the R501 million earned in the same period last year.
Its revenue is expected to grow by 23% to R7.398 billion and profit from operations is expected to increase by 25% to R1.313 billion.
The company said profit from the starch operations amounted to R147 million from R167 million‚ while profit from the land conversion and development operations increased to R244 million from R62 million‚ with sales mainly in the Cornubia industrial and Umhlanga Ridge areas.
The various sugar operations are expected to generate operating profit of R969 million compared with 2011’s R857 million.
The group said it was benefitting from higher sugar production volumes with the related reduction in the unit cost of production‚ against the background of general margin pressure in the relationship of selling price movements versus higher input costs.
The major production increase this year is in Zimbabwe‚ following the 42% increase in sugar production in Mozambique in the previous season and in South Africa‚ a further widening of the gap between the hectares under cane and the hectares milled.
Its interim results are set for release on Monday‚ 12 November. - I-Net Bridge