Johannesburg - Ellies Holdings on Wednesday warned a number of large exceptional items would push the headline loss per share for the year to April to between 80 and 85 cents.
This compares with earnings per share of 23.46 for the comparative period a year before, and represents a decline of 441 to 462 percent.
This warning updates and overtakes a statement from the company in May warning shareholders of an expected decline of more than 380 percent.
Ellies said difficult trading conditions had been compounded by a number of large exceptional items.
These include impairments of goodwill and intangibles of R28.8 million, reversal of deferred tax assets of approximately R9,1 million as well as retrenchment costs.
Were it not for the exceptional items, the company added, headline earnings per share would have declined by just 32 to 34 percent.
The company said it was implementing a number of initiatives to improve its financial position, including the sale of its property portfolio.
Capital raisings in the past six months were expected to reduce the group’s term debt by around R250 million, resulting in a reduction of interest charges of R16.7 million.
The infrastructure division had scaled down its South African operations significantly to concentrate on higher margin African projects. The company said the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast look set to continue as significant revenue drivers.
Ellies added trading in the consumer division had improved in the first two months of the new financial year, driven by the the small bright spot of growth in standby power products as South Africans found ways to cope with loadshedding.
The full results are expected on July 28.
ANA