Mark Lamberti
Photo by: Duane Daws
JSE-listed Imperial Holdings’ share price on the JSE fell nearly 5.7% on Monday afternoon as the company warned of lower operating income and earnings for the six months ended December 31.
Operating income for the six months under review was likely to be between R2.82-billion and R2.91-billion, which would be between 8% and 11% lower than the R3.17-billion of the year-ago six-month period.
Last year, Imperial CEO Mark Lamberti attributed the decline in operating income to the weakness of the rand, which impacted on the competitiveness and profitability of the vehicle import, distribution and dealership division.
Meanwhile, earnings per share (EPS) were expected to be between 727c and 754c, or between 16% and 19% lower than the EPS of 898c reported in the first half of the prior financial year.
The expected headline earnings per share (HEPS) of between 740c and 765c for the six months under review would be between 8% and 11% lower than the HEPS of 831c in the prior comparable period.
Imperial’s share price fell by 5.68% to R186.08 on Monday, compared with Friday’s close of R197.30.