Comair expects big earnings per share drop

Johannesburg - Comair [JSE:COM] announced on Friday that it expects its earnings per share for the six months ended December 31 2015 to be between 40% and 60% lower than that for the comparative period in 2014 at between 15 cents and 23c.

The headline earnings per share are expected to be between 50% and 70% lower than that for the comparative period at between 11c and 19c.

The company said profits were negatively affected by a translation loss of R91m (pre-tax) on a dollar denominated long-term loan that was revalued on December 31 2015 at the exchange rate of R15.47 to the dollar, and by losses of R71m (pre-tax) on oil hedges, the last of which expired on December 31 2015.

The financial information on which this trading statement is based has not been reviewed and reported on by Comair's external auditors.

The results for the six months ended December 31 2015 are expected to be released on or about February 16 2016.