Photo by: Bloomberg
Despite posting a modest 5.5% year-on-year growth in group revenue to R2.1-billion for the 12 months ended April 30, South African electronics manufacturer Ellies Holdings said on Tuesday that margin contraction of 14% in its consumer division and 2% in its infrastructure division, coupled with the costs of funding relating to opportunities “that did not materialise”, drove considerably reduced group earnings.
Earnings per share (Eps) of 24.66c for the period was a 66.8% drop on the prior year’s Eps of 74.24c, while headline earnings a share narrowed 68.3% to 23.46c.
Similarly, the company posted a 68.2% decrease in profit after tax to R71.5-million for the year.
While Ellies noted that the core business of the group experienced some earnings growth during the latter half of the year, this was fully negated by the R31.8-million additional net interest incurred for the second half.
The group's net working capital declined by R236-million for the period under review.