Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Global supplier of heavy duty equipment and
articulated vehicles Bell Equipment [JSE:BEL] boosted diluted headline
earnings per share from 27 cents to 285c for the year ended December 2011.
The operating profit for the year increased from R125m to
R436m. This was achieved on the back of a 49% growth in revenue from R3.4bn to
R5.07bn.
"In most respects, 2011 proved to be a very good year
for Bell," it said.
It reported profit after tax of R297m compared with just
R37m in the previous year.
Of this, R276m is attributable to shareholders of Bell
(2010: R26m). This translates into earnings per share for the year under review
of 290c (2010: 27c), it said.
"The turnaround in profitability can be attributed to a
number of factors. Sales revenue has increased by 49% in comparison with the
previous year and encouragingly, these sales were achieved at improved gross
profit margins," it said.
Another contributor to the turnaround has been the
containment of overheads.
It added that while a considerable portion of Bell's revenue
was derived in foreign currencies, it was fortunate that many of its costs were
also incurred in foreign currencies thereby affording the group an automatic
measure of currency hedge protection.
The group's capital and reserves have risen to about 1.8bn (2010: R1.4bn) with net/asset value having risen to R18.72 per share (2010: R14.94).
