Allied Electronics (Altron) has released a trading statement for the half-year ended 31 August 2018, alerting shareholders to substantially higher earnings compared to the previous year.
Subsequent to the restructuring of a number of core businesses, the majority of the group’s operations have had a strong performance for the half-year ended 31 August 2018, with a number of these producing EBITDA growth in excess of 20%.
Group revenue from continuing operations is expected to increase by between 42% and 46% relative to the prior period, while EBITDA is expected to increase by between 24% and 28%.
Headline earnings for the period are expected to increase by between 45% and 52%.
On a normalised basis, the continuing operations’ revenue is expected to increase by between 41% and 45%, EBITDA is expected to increase by between 14% and 18%, and headline earnings are expected to increase by between 22% to 28% from the prior period.
The primary difference between continuing operations and the normalised continuing operations’ results relates to approximately R6-million (after tax) of non-recurring costs relating to restructuring (H1 FY18 R35-million).
As announced on 26 July 2018, Altron concluded the disposal of Powertech Transformers, which was the largest business in the held-for-sale group.
Agreement has been reached to sell Altech UEC, the last non-core control asset. This agreement is subject to a number of conditions precedent including Competition Commission approval. The final conditions are expected to be concluded by the end of November 2018.
The significantly improved performance out of the discontinued businesses against the prior period has contributed to the ongoing improvement in both earnings and headline earnings per share.
The half-year financial results for the period to 31 August 2018 are expected to be released on SENS on 25 October 2018.