Johannesburg - Standard Bank expects to report improved earnings when it publishes its interim results on August 14.
In a trading statement issued today, the group said earnings per share, which came in at 519.5c last year, would be between 55% and 65% higher for the six months to June.
Headline earnings per share would gain between 22% and 32% when compared to last year’s 518.5c, it added.
JSE rules require companies to alert shareholders as soon as they are reasonably confident that earnings will differ by 20% or more when compared to the previous comparative period.
Standard Bank noted it wrapped up a deal to sell its controlling interest in Standard Bank (now renamed ICBC Standard Bank Plc) and its entire interest in Banco Standard de Investimentos during the half year.
Because of these deals, earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders include about R3 billion of net disposal gains, which have been stripped out from headline earnings, it says.
These net disposal gains consist primarily of releases from the group’s foreign currency translation reserve, it explains.
Headline earnings include the effects of a recently-finalised partial recovery in respect of insurance claims relating to the external fraud in Qingdao port in China as well as operating losses and final adjustments up to the end of January in Standard Bank.
Last year, Standard Bank took an $80 million hit from its exposure to the alleged multi-pledging of metals in Qingdao, China.
Standard Bank, which has been around for more than 150 years, has an on-the-ground presence in 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
IOL