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Johannesburg - Transport group Imperial Holdings [JSE:IPL] booked a 37% rise in full-year profit on Wednesday, helped by robust new auto sales at home while a strong German economy bolstered its logistics unit.
Imperial, which operates car rental, dealerships and logistics businesses, said on Wednesday diluted headline earnings per share totalled 1 289c in the year to end-June compared with 941c a year earlier.
Imperial, one the biggest operators of auto dealerships in South Africa, has been benefiting from lower interest rates and a tentative economic recovery.
Previous views of a rate hike before the year end had weighed on the stock.
The market now sees a rate cut as more likely, given the weak global and local economy.
Shares in Imperial are down about 14% so far this year, lagging behind an 8% fall in the broader All Share [JSE:J203] index for the same period.
"The rate of growth in new car sales is expected to be lower in an uncertain environment," the company said in a statement.
South African vehicle sales growth rose 10.5% year-on-year in July, official data showed earlier this month, but analysts say the number showed slower momentum in demand for new cars.
Revenue rose 21% to R64.6bn helped partly by a string of bolt-on acquisitions in the past two years. Imperial said those acquisitions, which include a logistics firm CIC Holdings and car parts merchant Midas, added R7bn to annual turnover over the past 24 months.
The company, whose trucks and cargo vessels haul everything from fast-moving consumer goods to coal, said it logistics unit in Europe was robust thanks to a strong economy in Germany but the southern Africa part of the business was under pressure.
Imperial, which operates car rental, dealerships and logistics businesses, said on Wednesday diluted headline earnings per share totalled 1 289c in the year to end-June compared with 941c a year earlier.
Imperial, one the biggest operators of auto dealerships in South Africa, has been benefiting from lower interest rates and a tentative economic recovery.
Previous views of a rate hike before the year end had weighed on the stock.
The market now sees a rate cut as more likely, given the weak global and local economy.
Shares in Imperial are down about 14% so far this year, lagging behind an 8% fall in the broader All Share [JSE:J203] index for the same period.
"The rate of growth in new car sales is expected to be lower in an uncertain environment," the company said in a statement.
South African vehicle sales growth rose 10.5% year-on-year in July, official data showed earlier this month, but analysts say the number showed slower momentum in demand for new cars.
Revenue rose 21% to R64.6bn helped partly by a string of bolt-on acquisitions in the past two years. Imperial said those acquisitions, which include a logistics firm CIC Holdings and car parts merchant Midas, added R7bn to annual turnover over the past 24 months.
The company, whose trucks and cargo vessels haul everything from fast-moving consumer goods to coal, said it logistics unit in Europe was robust thanks to a strong economy in Germany but the southern Africa part of the business was under pressure.
