Jasco issues dividend after change in fortune
JSE-LISTED technology company Jasco Electronics Holdings last week declared its first dividend in four years after releasing its financial results and recording an upward swing in its profits for the year to June.
The company said operating profit surged to R41.7 million from a loss of R72.5m following once-off impairments and adjustments of R101.1m during the corresponding period last year. It said profit after tax jumped to R14m for the period from a loss of R83m in the corresponding period last year.
Earnings per share rose 6.3 cents compared with a 38.7c loss in 2005, while headline earning per share surged 164 percent to 6.3c per share.
The company said it would issue a 2c dividend to its investors for the period. The sale of more than half of its stake in Malesela Taihan Electric Cable (M-Tec) last year contributed to the surge in revenue.
Jasco said it had already received the first R20m instalment from the sale of the 51 percent ownership it sold for R60m early this year. It expected the next tranche in November. Manufacturers decreased by 5.2 percent to R165.8m.
Pete da Silva, Jasco’s chief executive, said the group’s second half performance was the difference between having a good year and a great year.
“It has been a challenging year. The first six months were very good. In the second six months we were hit very hard, because of the lack of confidence in the South African economy and the volatile exchange rate,” Da Silva said.
He said the company expected the first half of the 2017 results to be affected negatively by the economic climate.
“I think the slow growth will continue, we are looking at an export market with east Africa and the Middle East, where we have seen a much bigger growth for our products,” Da Silva said.
Last year the company opened offices in Nairobi, Kenya, while this month it had announced it had moved closer to opening a hub in Dubai. “We are going to service east Africa out of Nairobi, the SADC out of Johannesburg and the Middle East and north Africa out of Dubai,” Da Silva said.
Jasco shares closed flat at 90c on Friday.