The sugar producer, which has operations in neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland, said on Friday that headline earnings in the year to end-March would rise to about R982m from R679m in the year-earlier period.
The various sugar operations realised R1.27bn in operating profit, staging a turnaround from a loss of R15m in the previous period and reflecting high sugar prices and effective import duties in the jurisdictions in which the company operates.
Sugar production crept to 1.056-million tonnes, from 1.023-million tonnes, as the drought in Kwazulu-Natal and poor growing conditions in Zimbabwe and Mozambique affected volumes.
Operating profit in the start and glucose operation dropped to R510m, from R658m, as a result of high maize costs that resulted from the drought.
Tongaat also generates income from land conversion and development activities. In this regard, operating profit dropped to R641m from R1.11bn.
The share price has dropped 13% to R113.60 on the JSE so far in 2017, valuing the company R15.8bn.
Source: BDpro
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