Shares in retail group Spar rose by 1,4% on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) after the company said its saw its earnings increasing during its current interim period.
Spar on Monday announced that earnings per share for the six months ending March 31 2005 will be between 20% and 30% higher than earnings for the previous corresponding reporting period.
However, Spar said it is unlikely that interim headline earnings per share will exceed 20% growth on earnings for the corresponding reporting period of the prior year.
Spar attributed the expected increase in earnings per share to operating efficiencies, the cessation of the payment of the management fee to the company’s former holding company, Tiger Brands, the discontinuance of the amortisation of goodwill and a lower taxation charge.
Headline earnings growth per share is not expected to match the growth in earnings per share as a result of the requirement in the corresponding prior reporting period to write back to earnings the amortisation of goodwill.
At this stage, earnings per share and headline earnings per share for the full year are not anticipated to exceed 20% growth on 2004, Spar said. — I-Net Bridge