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Johannesburg - South Africa's biggest packaging group, Nampak [JSE:NPK] nearly doubled its full-year profit as its restructuring plan began to pay off and it forecast improved results for the year ahead.
Nampak, which supplies plastic milk bottles to Britain and operates in several African countries, said on Monday headline earnings per share totalled 149.7 cents in the year to end-September, compared with 83.8c a year earlier.
There was a 73% improvement in diluted headline earnings per share.
Nampak said last month it was in talks about a potential deal, without giving details. It said revenue fell 5% to R18.5bn due partly to lower volumes in South Africa and the effect of a stronger rand on translated revenue from Europe and the rest of Africa.
The company has suffered in recent years as the economic slowdown crimped demand, but has crafted a three-year turnaround plan that includes selling non-core assets and fixing underperforming units.
Nampak said its Leeds UK cartons business and its domestic corrugated business, both of which were revamped under the plan, showed improved results.
The company also sold six underperforming businesses during the period.
Nampak said the strategy would help it become more focused and deliver improved results in the year ahead.
"We expect to be able to continue delivering improvements in profitability, trading margins and reduced debt," the company said.
