Africa’s biggest packaging group Nampak posted a 22% jump in full-year headline earnings per share (EPS), and said on Thursday it expected real earnings growth in the current year.
Nampak, which produces packaging products from metal, glass, paper and plastics and is a major manufacturer of tissue products, said headline EPS rose to 184,6 cents, and basic earnings per share rose to 181 cents.
The company, which is one of the leading suppliers of folding cartons to the food and healthcare sectors in Europe, had said on Friday it expected full-year headline EPS to rise by 20% to 25%.
Headline EPS is the key profit measure for South African firms and excludes non-trading, capital and certain extraordinary items.
Revenue rose 12% to R17-billion in the year to end-September, partly as a result of good volume growth, the company, which has operations in 11 countries on the African continent outside of South Africa, said in a statement.
Nampak, the major supplier of plastic bottles to the dairy industry in the United Kingdom, said trading income was anticipated to increase in 2008.
But the increase would be moderated by the loss of some folding carton business in South Africa as a result of packaging substitution, Zimbabwe profits that are no longer consolidated and the possible negative impact of a stronger rand.
”However, real earnings growth is expected in the year ahead,” said the group, which is also engaged in the collection and recycling of used packaging. – Reuters