Logistics company OneLogix’s earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ended November 30 are expected to decrease by between 75% and 95%, and 85% and 105%, respectively.

This means that EPS will be between 50c and 250c, while HEPS will be between a loss of 50c and a profit of 150c.

The lower EPS and HEPS compared with the prior period are partly attributable to a freak hailstorm in September, which caused considerable damage to passenger vehicles stored at the group’s Umlaas road facility.

The group warehouses a particularly large quantum of vehicles and the current insurance cover available is only for significant damage to passenger vehicles, in effect requiring the group to carry the risk for all minor repairs.

At the time of the hailstorm, OneLogix was processing a few large shipments of passenger vehicles into the Umlaas road open staging facility, resulting in an estimated cost net of insurance proceeds of between R20-million and R25-million.

The exercise in repairing and finalising the claims with insurers is ongoing and expected to be completed before the end of January.

Another contributing factor was the civil unrest in July which resulted in the group experiencing greatly reduced activity for about two weeks ending on July 19. The productivity lost over the period of the unrest, as well as the costs incurred to secure operations, resulted in a decline in revenue and profitability of an estimated R20-million and R10-million, respectively.

Meanwhile, VDS and TruckLogix continue to be hamstrung by depressed storage volumes resulting from global supply chain disruptions impacting the supply and delivery of passenger and commercial vehicles.

This has been compounded by the onboarding of additional vehicle storage facilities in KwaZulu-Natal (upon the completion of the new Umlaas road Phase 3 storage facilities in January 2021) contributing to an additional R32-million in lease-related costs as per International Financing Reporting Standard 16 in the period under review, compared with the prior period.

Notwithstanding the impacts above, all operations within the group are in a sound position, having endured the past 18 months of Covid-19 pandemic-induced conditions, the company said on December 6.

It added that some operations had produced an improved profit performance, while others remained fundamentally relevant with a strong underlying business strategy, solid customer base as well as adept, resilient and innovative management teams that would ensure their sustainability.

The group's unaudited results for the current period are scheduled to be released in February.