Drop in headline earnings expected

BELL Equipment, the listed manufacturer of heavy equipment for the construction and mining sectors, expects its headline earnings a share for the year to December to be between 73 and 79 percent lower than in the previous year. This equates to headline earnings a share of between 35 cents and 45c, compared with 167c, the company said in an updated trading statement released yesterday. The company said last month that headline earnings a share for the year to December were expected to be at least 50 percent, or between 89c and 84c, lower than the previous year. Bell Equipment said yesterday that, as previously communicated to shareholders, the expected decrease in earnings resulted from fraud and mismanagement in the company’s subsidiary in the Democratic Republic of Congo, continued depressed conditions in the markets and industries in which the company operated, and the strength of the rand in the second half of last year. The company expects to release its annual financial results tomorrow. – Roy Cokayne