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Despite the ongoing challenging economy, listed technology group Altron says it is on track to deliver on its goal of doubling earnings by 2022.<\/p>\n
The group has published its interim results for the six months ended August 2019, showing revenue from continuing operations climbed 8% to R8.53 billion.<\/p>\n
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from continuing operations increased by 19% to R803 million, while headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased by 4% to 73 cents.<\/p>\n
Profit from continuing operations was up to R273 million, from R269 million before.<\/p>\n
The group declared an interim dividend of 29 cents per share.<\/p>\n
“We continue to stay focused on delivering innovation that matters through technology solutions and services that deliver impact with tangible results for businesses and have positive societal impact,” it said.<\/p>\n
“To this end, we secured key wins in the financial half-year under review. These included, amongst others, the partnership agreement entered into between Toyota, Vodacom and Netstar. Furthermore, Altron Karabina, has recently been awarded Licencing Solutions Provider status by Microsoft.<\/p>\n
Altron said it remains on track to double ebitda by 2022.<\/p>\n
The group acknowledged that it experienced challenges in some of its operations – specifically with Altron Nexus which lost the City of Tshwane Municipal Broadband Network contract.<\/p>\n
In addition, internal investigations following the precautionary suspension of key executives remains ongoing, it said.<\/p>\n
“Altron Nexus also experienced increased working capital demands as a result of large infrastructure projects and increased business activity.”<\/p>\n
The integration of Altron Karabina, which was acquired during FY19, was also slower than expected.<\/p>\n
“To improve market comprehension of our solutions and services, we have again grouped our operations into the following segments, namely Digital Transformation, Healthtech\/Fintech, Smart IoT and Managed Services,” it said.<\/p>\n
Altron noted that while the discontinued operations were included in the FY19 interim results, the process of disposing of non-core assets has largely been concluded and accordingly, these results are presented with discontinued operations excluded.<\/p>\n
“Continuing operations’ results provide stakeholders a more appropriate measure of the core sustainable earnings of Altron,” it said.<\/p>\n
Including discontinued operations, profits were down to R267 million (from R289 million before), with the total comprehensive income for the period also down at R278 million from R466 million before.<\/p>\n
In mid-morning trade on the JSE, Altron’s shares declined 1.43%, to R26.87 a share.<\/p>\n
The group’s shares are are up 58% year-to-date, however.<\/p>\n