Industrial group Barloworld (BAW) said on Wednesday it expected its headline earnings per share in the year ended September 2012 to rise by between 40% and 50%‚ from 465 cents in the same period a year ago.
It said Equipment Southern Africa delivered “record” sales of large mining equipment to customers‚ contributing to growth in operating profit.
The Russian equipment business continued to build on last year’s high base‚ Barloworld said‚ delivering another “excellent” result. Trading conditions in Equipment Iberia‚ however‚ remained very difficult‚ the company said.
“Automotive and logistics produced a very good result in a competitive trading environment‚ with motor retail‚ car rental‚ fleet services and logistics all producing results well ahead of last year‚” it said.
Profit in the handling division fell‚ due to difficult trading conditions in certain regions. The US and UK businesses were sold in April and September 2012 respectively.
Finance costs were up on the prior year due to higher activity levels.
Exceptional profits on the disposals of the handling division assets‚ including realisation of currency translation reserves‚ resulted in net exceptional gains‚ which boosted basic earnings per share for the year.
The full-year results are expected on November 19. - I-Net Bridge