Johannesburg - Tongaat Hulett [JSE:TON] reported a nearly
11% rise in full-year earnings on Monday, boosted by an increase in sugar
output and prices and said it expected production to grow further in the next
season.
The agri-processing company said diluted headline earnings
per share for the year to end-March totalled 819.4 cents from 739.6c a year
ago.
Tongaat Hulett has interests in land management and property
development, but its main business is sugar production and milling.
The company, which has operations in South Africa,
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, said total sugar output rose 14% to 1.150
million tonnes.
It said sugar production was expected to increase by between
12% and 25% in the 2012/13 season.
Tongaat Hulett shares have gained 8% so far this year,
compared with a 3% rise in Johannesburg’s All Share [JSE:J203] Index.
Tongaat shares rose 2.9% to R112.50 on Monday morning.