JSE-listed Reunert intends to close its Nashua Mobile unit within six months as the embattled operation continues to underperform.

Reunert announced last month that it would sell Nashua Mobile’s respective subscriber bases to telecommunications groups MTN and Vodacom and wrap up operations.

Nashua Mobile, which had been classified as a discontinued operation in Reunert’s interim results to March 2014, reported a decline in revenue from R1.85-billion in the six months to March 2013, to R1.8-billion in the interim period under review, on the back of continued price deflation in the mobile industry and the impact of the reduced incentives received from the service providers.

The unit’s profit for the period contracted 41% to R60.4-million, while the unit’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and operating profit for the six months to March 2014 fell 34% and 35% to R91-million and R85.6-million respectively.

Overall, the Nashua segment as a whole, which comprised Nashua Mobile, Nashua Communications, PanSolutions and Quince Capital, recorded a 3% increase in revenue to R3.4-billion for the interim period to March.

Excluding Nashua Mobile, the subsidairy’s revenue increased by 10%.

Operating profit from the continuing operations increased 11% to R204.4-million, while operating profit, including Nashua Mobile, decreased 8% to R290-million.

Nashua Office Automation reported a 19% hike in revenue, owing to the acquisition of Nashua North and Prodoc Svenska, while Nashua Communications reported a marginal decrease in revenue.

The once-off restructuring costs of Nashua Communications’ right-sizing project in October 2013 resulted in marginally lower operating profit for the six months under review.

PanSolution's revenue and operating profit declined marginally, as the market remained highly competitive; however, the segment's financing operation, Quince, delivered a strong performance with increased revenue and operating profits, with a R1.9-billion rental book.

As a whole, the Reunert group, including Nashua Mobile, reported an 8% decline in normalised headline earnings per share (HEPS) to 237.2c.

Basic earnings per share and HEPS from continuing operations increased 3% to 200.9c and 201.3c respectively.

During the six months to March, revenue from continuing operations increased 14% to R3.7-billion, while operating profit increased from R449.2-million to R477.2-million.