CAPE TOWN – Imperial Logistics inched up slightly on the JSE despite the listed transport and mobility group releasing gloomy trading guidance to shareholders on Thursday, indicating that its earnings per share would fall 100 percent in the year to end June, as it battled write-ups and tough trading conditions in South Africa.
Imperial stock rose 2.52 percent on the JSE on Thursday to close at R47.23 after the group said it expected its revenue, operating profit and headline earnings per share from continuing operations to decline 27 percent in line with earlier projections it issued in June.
The group said it recorded impairments of between R1.2 billion and R1.4bn in its consumer packaged-goods unit, including provisions for retrenchments and the exit of leases.
It said it had now classified the division as a discontinued operation.
“Lower operating profit and headline earnings per share than the prior year, negatively impacted by weaker operational performances in South Africa and International divisions, once-off trading costs in the International division and once-off costs associated with business rationalisation and restructure,” the group said yesterday.
Imperial said it also wrote off certain historic goodwill to the value of R1.1bn, equalling 14 percent of total goodwill and intangible assets, as a result of significant deterioration in macroeconomic conditions in all three of its divisions.
“These factors have resulted in the reduction in the value in use of certain of our cash generating units, leading to the goodwill impairment,” it said.