Jens Montanana
Photo by: Duane Daws
London- and Johannesburg-listed Datatec expected to post a decline in earnings for the year to February as its Westcon North America’s lagging performance remained unchanged.
In a trading update to shareholders, CEO Jens Montanana said on Monday that the information and communications technology group’s earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings per share (HEPS) would fall from the $0.40 reported in the prior financial year to between $0.28 and $0.31c and $0.30 and $0.33, respectively, in the year under review.
The company’s underlying EPS was estimated to reach between $0.34 and $0.37 in the 12 months to February, compared with the $0.43 reported last year.
Datatec’s EPS, as well as profit after tax, which was expected to fall from $85-million the year before to between $64-million and $69-million in the year to February, had been weighed down by a $20-million provision relating to the recoverability of certain assets in Westcon North America.
However, the group said it had recovered more than half of these legacy vendor claim assets, with the balance written off.
Underlying EPS, EPS and HEPS were all below the company’s forecast, in October, of $0.43, $0.38 and $0.40 respectively.
Group revenue for the financial year to February was expected to be between $5.6-billion and $5.8-billion – a marginal rise from the $5.25-billion recorded in the prior financial year.
Montanana said distribution to shareholders would be maintained through a final capital reduction out of contributed tax capital in lieu of a $0.09 dividend, resulting in a distribution of about $0.17 a share for the 12 months to February.
Datatec would release its year-end financial report on May 14.