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Johannesburg - Steel distributor Alert Steel Holdings [JSE:AET] on Monday reported the widening of its full year headline loss from 25.5 cents to 41c a share as the company restructured to focus on its core business of retailing steel and steel related products.
The loss attributable to ordinary shareholders for the year to end June 2011 amounted to R119.8m, compared to R99m for the year to end June 2010.
A loss per share of 48.2c was reported for the year from 39.8c previously.
The Alt-X listed company described the year as "a challenging one" in which it continued, and largely completed, the process of implementing its restructuring strategy.
It said the downturn in the markets had paradoxically brought some benefit to the company by highlighting areas in need of attention both within the group's business and in its product mix which were not identified before the recession hit in 2008.
Alert Steel chief executive Johan du Toit said the process of discontinuing certain non-core product lines and the introduction of new ones aligned to the group's strategy had resulted in the erosion of the group's current customer base which impacted on the sales function.
Revenue reduced by 6% to R769.9m with a consequent after tax loss of R120.2m.
During the financial year, Alert Steel disposed of certain operations of Alert Steel North West and subsequently repurchased all the shares in Alert Steel North West on October 2011, which is now wholly-owned. In addition, Alert Steel disposed of the operations of Alert Plumping and the RSC Polokwane division, sold its shares in Alert Reinforcing and acquired all the shares in Alert Steel Polokwane.
Looking ahead, the company said with the restructuring out of the way, the company's financial performance was already picking up.
"With the restructure behind us and our renewed focus on steel and steel-related products, we have regained the lost revenue from discontinued lines in the first three months of the new financial year by growing sales in new product lines," said Du Toit.
Alert Steel's main strategic objective for the upcoming 12 months is to focus on growing its rural market and expanding its rural footprint through the roll out of Alert Express stores.
The loss attributable to ordinary shareholders for the year to end June 2011 amounted to R119.8m, compared to R99m for the year to end June 2010.
A loss per share of 48.2c was reported for the year from 39.8c previously.
The Alt-X listed company described the year as "a challenging one" in which it continued, and largely completed, the process of implementing its restructuring strategy.
It said the downturn in the markets had paradoxically brought some benefit to the company by highlighting areas in need of attention both within the group's business and in its product mix which were not identified before the recession hit in 2008.
Alert Steel chief executive Johan du Toit said the process of discontinuing certain non-core product lines and the introduction of new ones aligned to the group's strategy had resulted in the erosion of the group's current customer base which impacted on the sales function.
Revenue reduced by 6% to R769.9m with a consequent after tax loss of R120.2m.
During the financial year, Alert Steel disposed of certain operations of Alert Steel North West and subsequently repurchased all the shares in Alert Steel North West on October 2011, which is now wholly-owned. In addition, Alert Steel disposed of the operations of Alert Plumping and the RSC Polokwane division, sold its shares in Alert Reinforcing and acquired all the shares in Alert Steel Polokwane.
Looking ahead, the company said with the restructuring out of the way, the company's financial performance was already picking up.
"With the restructure behind us and our renewed focus on steel and steel-related products, we have regained the lost revenue from discontinued lines in the first three months of the new financial year by growing sales in new product lines," said Du Toit.
Alert Steel's main strategic objective for the upcoming 12 months is to focus on growing its rural market and expanding its rural footprint through the roll out of Alert Express stores.
