/ 18 November 2000

BOE BUILDS FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH

FINANCIAL services group BoE has reported a 13% increase in its annual earnings per share and said it was confident of sustainable EPS growth of over 20% in the year ahead. BoE said proforma headline earnings per share were up at 45.3 cents for the year to end-September from a proforma of 40.0 cents the previous year. The earnings were not comparable to the 1999 results due to its restructure, which included the unbundling of RMB Holdings, the repayment of R2.4bn to shareholders and the writing down of some investments. – Reuters