JOHANNESBURG - Houseware manufacturer Verimark said on Thursday that it expects to report improved profits for the financial year ended 28 February 2018 despite a challenging retail environment in South Africa.
Verimark said that it will record a profit before taxation of between R43 million and R50.4 million, an increase of between 15.1 percent and 35.1 percent on the R37.3 million for the comparative period.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS), the measure of a company's profitability, is expected to be in the range of 29.5 and 34.3 cents per share compared to the 24,0 cents per share the previous year, an increase of between 22.8 percent and 42.8 percent.
Verimark sad that the tough economic environment resulted in a volatile rand against foreign currencies. The focus on reduction and containment of costs also helped Verimark to produce favourable results because of a renewed cost-benefit analysis and elimination of wasteful expenditure.
"Although the rand has strengthened significantly over the last few months, the average rand dollar exchange rate only strengthened by 8.27 percent. This strengthening of the rand together with the introduction of a greater number of exceptional products contributed to improved sales and profits," it said.
The company will release its results next month.