Absa trade resumes after suspension

Johannesburg - Absa Group [JSE:ASA] hastily released its interim figures on Wednesday - a day earlier than scheduled - after its results appeared in both Financial Mail and Bloomberg news services.

Subsequently, trade in Absa was halted by the JSE around 13:20.

"The trade has been halted as there are currently two levels of information in the market, with certain investors having seen Absa's results for the six months to end-June 2010 in the Financial Mail magazine before they were released on Sens," said André Visser, the JSE's general manager of issuer services.

In response, Absa posted its six months to end-June results within less than an hour, showing a 17% increase in attributable profits to R3.842bn for the period.

Fully diluted headline earnings per share however decreased by 3% to 535.9c.

The group said the difference between the change in headline and attributable earnings related mainly to impairments against the value of equity positions acquired from single stock future defaults in the first half of 2009.

The decline in headline earnings, its said, was driven by an increase in the weighted average number of shares in issue owing to the conclusion, in 2009, of the group's broad-based black economic empowerment transaction. 

Loans and advances to customers dropped by 4%, while total assets were down 6%. Impairments showed a 22% improvement from R4.5bn to R3.5bn.
 
Retail banking showed a 20% increase in contribution to group earnings - delivering R975m - while the business banking operations recorded a 6% decline in earnings to R1.36bn.  Absa Capital contributed R614m.

The group also declared an interim dividend of 225c per share.   
 
Trade in Absa resumed at 14:16.
 
 - Fin24.com