Listed ICT group Jasco has advised that it expects revenue for the year ended June 2017 to decline by between 1% and 5%, with operating profit to remain flat.<\/p>\n
“The group operated in continued adverse trading conditions in South Africa, with low economic growth and a volatile rand. These market conditions particularly impacted the second half of the financial year,” Jasco said.<\/p>\n
It cited a number of once-off items as having a particularly negative impact on earnings and headline earnings.<\/p>\n
These included:<\/p>\n
1. Exiting unprofitable Security customer contracts and the resultant retrenchments
\n2. Investments in the group\u2019s international operations in the newly-established Middle East and further business development costs in East Africa
\n3. Transaction costs on two acquisitions, with a particular impact from the unsuccessful Cross Fire acquisition
\n4. A material tax impact due to unutilised foreign tax credits and non-deductible acquisition costs.<\/p>\n
These costs, as well as the tough market conditions, it said, resulted in earnings per share for the year ended June 2017 to be between 38% and 48% lower (between 3.3 cents and 3.9 cents per share) compared to 6.3 cents per share for the previous corresponding period.<\/p>\n
It said that it expects headline earnings per share to be between 56% and 66% lower (between 2.1 cents and 2.8 cents per share) compared to the 6.3 cents per share for the previous corresponding period.<\/p>\n
Jasco said it expects to publish its results\u00a0on 13 September 2017.<\/p>\n