JSE- and LSE-listed Datatec on Thursday reported double-digit drops in earnings for the six months to August 31; however, a rally in the second half of the year is expected to boost earnings for the full financial year above that of the prior year.
The group, which would release its interim results on October 19, expected to report 24.2% lower earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings a share, at 9.1c, compared with the 12c achieved in the corresponding period the year before.
Datatec’s underlying EPS are expected to come in at around 12.5c for the first six months of the 2017 financial year, a 24.7% decline on the 16.6c a share reported in the corresponding period last year.
Datatec anticipated 7.6% lower revenue at $3.04-billion in the six months under review and an uptick in its gross margin from 13.1% in the first six months of the 2016 financial year to 13.8% in the period under review.
“Underlying EPS in the second half of the 2017 financial year are expected to be sequentially better than in the first half and comparatively better than the second half of the previous financial year,” the company said in an update to shareholders.
With the current trading and prevailing exchange rates, the company believed that it would report “better” underlying EPS for the full year to February 28, than it did in the prior year.