Reunert full year revenue up 15%
Reunert on Tuesday published its financial results for year ended September 2017 reflecting a 14% growth in operating profit and a 15% rise in revenue.
This improvement in profitability flowed through to headline earnings per share which also grew by 19%, the group said.
Reunert manages a diversified portfolio of businesses in the fields of electrical engineering, information communication technologies (ICT), and applied electronics.
Group revenue increased to R9.8 billion (2016: R8.5 billion), spurred on by growth in the electrical engineering segment, where segment revenue grew by 28%. Revenue in the applied electronics segment grew by 14%, despite a stronger rand impacting export revenue.
Reunert declared a gross final cash dividend 354 cents per ordinary share (2016: 326 cents per share).
Revenue in the ICT segment was flat, Reunert said, while in the office automation business, revenue increased from the sales of fewer, but higher-value units.
In the voice-over-internet business, the final statutory reduction in interconnect rates resulted in lower income despite the positive customer growth.
Group operating profit increased from R1.3 billion to R1.5 billion. The 16% increase in the ICT segment was mainly due to the successful implementation of margin enhancement programmes, in both Nashua and ECN and volume growth on higher-volume office automation equipment and voice minutes, the company said.
It said that the ICT segment delivered a strong performance underpinned by positive margin movement in both the office automation and voice business portfolios, despite segment revenue remaining flat at R3.3 billion.
Operating profit increased by 16% from R549 million to R635 million.
Nashua progressed well in the execution of its strategy to change from an office automation hardware supplier to a total office services provider to its 28,000-strong customer base.
“Our voice business, ECN, enjoyed a 9% growth to 1,2 billion minutes carried on the network. The impact of lower business confidence reduced demand per customer. This was offset by substantial growth in the number of customers serviced.
“We invested R12 million into the ECN network, and the upgrade has resulted in a more robust, high-quality and simplified network, creating scale for our new business-internet-access product suite,” Reunert said.
Looking ahead, it said that subject to no adverse changes in the local economic, social and political environment, it expects another year of real growth in 2018.
Loading ...