PPC’s share price fell by 8.6% on Monday on reports that it expects headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months to end March 31, could be 45% lower than in the same period the previous year. By 15:50, its shares had recovered and were 4.69% lower than Friday’s closing price.
The company, which was considering the merits of a merger proposal by AfriSam in December, reported that its HEPS were likely to be between 53c and 72c – between 25% and 45% lower than in the first half of the previous financial year.
“The main contributors to the decline were a one-off tax credit in the prior reporting year and an increase in finance costs in the current year,” explained PPC.
PPC said it was finalising a transaction with the IDC to increase its stake in Habesha Cement Company, in Ethiopia, to 51%. Habesha was building a $135-million, 1.4-million-tonne-a-year facility to be commissioned in 2016.
In addition, civil and mechanical construction had been completed at a 600 000 t/y cement plant in Rwanda where production would commence in the second half of 2015.
PPC would release its interim results on May 19.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/ppc-shares-drop-on-lower-heps-says-mulls-afrisam-offer-2015-01-26/rep_id:3182
