DURBAN - Alviva Holdings surged more than 10 percent on the JSE yesterday after the group declared a final dividend of 15cents a share for the year to end June despite a 50percent fall in earnings.
Alviva Holdings, one of Africa's largest providers of information and communication technology products and services, said its headline earnings per share declined by 50percent to 149.4c, negatively impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak during the second half of the financial year.
“First of all, there was a delay in supplies of products from China and then the imposition of the national lockdown by the South African government on March 26 ensured that there would be no chance of the group recovering lost ground in its financial performance,” the group said.
The final dividend was down 50 percent from last year.
The group said its revenue declined 7percent to R14.8billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell by 18percent to R708million as its businesses were forced to trade at a reduced capacity as some of them fell under the essential services.
The group operates through three business segments: ICT Distribution, Services and Solutions as well as Financial Services.
Looking ahead the group said the outlook for the year to June 2021 remained uncertain as the economy continued to be under pressure on Covid-19.
“We see a healthy demand for our services and products due to the remote working requirements. The group has well established businesses with solid experienced management in place that have shown themselves to be adept at growing revenues during times of hardships,” the group said.
Alviva closed 9.44percent higher at R7.19 after the release of the results from Friday's close of R6.57.
BUSINESS REPORT