The Star Late Edition

Steinhoff Investment Holdings reports an operating profit of R6.51 billion |

- SANDILE MCHUNU

STEINHOFF Investment Holdings, a subsidiary of Steinhoff Internatio­nal, said on Friday that it expected consumer spending to continue to be constraine­d and the ongoing pandemic was causing significan­t disruption­s both on the supplier and demand side for the group.

Steinhoff Investment­s, which released its results for the year to end September 2019, reported an operating profit from continuing operations of R6.51 billion, improving on the loss of R632 million reported a year earlier.

Steinhoff Investment­s has been unable to release its 2017 results, following the accounting scandal, which led to a more than 95 percent decline in its share price to its parent company in December 2017.

Steinhoff Investment­s is the issuer of variable rate, cumulative, non-redeemable, non-participat­ing preference shares with a capital value of R1.5bn.

The group said the preference shares were listed on the JSE and following the events of December 2017, Steinhoff Investment­s was unable to publish its financial statements for the year to end September 2017 by the requisite date, February 28, 2018.

“The listing of the preference shares was, therefore, suspended by the JSE, effective March 1, 2018, and has remained suspended since that date,” the company said.

But the company explained that it is releasing the September 2019 results ahead of the delayed annual financial statements for the years to end September 2016, 2017 and 2018 in order to give the market the most recent financial informatio­n as soon as possible.

In the results, revenue from continuing operations increased by 8.5 percent to R69.7bn and profit for the period improved to R3.94bn compared to a loss of R2.91bn reported in 2018.

Its basic and diluted headline earnings per share from continuing operations improved to 5 963.6 cents a share. The group said it has achieved a commendabl­e set of operating results for the 2019 financial year, despite a very difficult retail environmen­t where consumer spending remained constraine­d, fuelled by high levels of unemployme­nt and low economic growth.

However, the company said the ongoing pandemic was causing significan­t disruption­s both on the supplier and demand side for the group. Its management is continuing to take an active approach, implementi­ng a range of mitigating strategies to protect profitabil­ity and cash flow.

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