Astrapak diluted loss per share of 32.9c

14 May 2014

Plastic packaging group Astrapak reported a diluted loss per share of 32.9c for the year ended February from headline earnings per share of 10c in the previous year.

Astrapak's Robin Moore says that exceptional costs and the impact of a fire at East Rand Plastics contributed to the losses incurred by the company this year. Image: Astrapak.

No dividend was declared.

The company said revenue from continuing operations went up 3% to R2.53bn while profit from continuing operations declined 9.3% to R514.1m.

Astrapak's Chief Executive Robin Moore said earnings were affected by substantial exceptional and non-recurring items. He said there were a number of insurance-related and restructuring items that negatively affected the overall result.

"The first year of the two-year turnaround plan has focused on releasing cash‚ set the platform for the future and giving the group time to execute on the rest of the strategy but it has added significant costs in the short to medium term.

"As part of the plan‚ we have implemented significant changes as well as having to deal with the issues and restructuring after the devastating fire at East Rand Plastics. Accounting for the insurance proceeds as well as the impact of the restructuring and turnaround actions has complicated this set of results‚" he said.

Moore said good progress had been made with the two-year recovery programme.

"The big changes are now behind us and a new operational and leadership structure is in place. In addition to the actions already taken‚ other strategic options continue to be evaluated‚" he said.

Profit before interest‚ tax depreciation and amortisation from continuing operations decreased 42.5% to R145.6m.

The R81.7 million total loss attributable to shareholders equates to 67.5c per share with 44.1c attributable to continuing operations and 23.4c attributable to discontinued operations.

Source: I-Net Bridge

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