Jasco's profit to slump

Johannesburg - JSE-listed infrastructure provider Jasco Electronics (JSC) on Wednesday advised that both earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year ended February 28 2009 were expected to be between 30% and 35% lower than the corresponding period.

"This implies EPS and HEPS of between 31.9 cents and 34.3 cents per share respectively," it said.

Jasco said that the EPS and HEPS were influenced by the fact that the 2008 EPS and HEPS were calculated before the issue of 17.2m new ordinary shares in terms of its BEE transaction concluded with Community Investment Holdings in March 2003.

"The impact of this new issue of shares was to effectively dilute both EPS and HEPS from the 49 cents per share reported for the year to February 29 2008 to 39.1 cents per share," the company said.

It said that the adjusted EPS and HEPS of 39.1c per share provide a more realistic base when comparing this year's results.

"Accordingly, based on this adjusted number, EPS and HEPS for the year ended February 28 2009 are expected to be between 12% and 18% lower than the corresponding period."

The company also reminded shareholders of the acquisition of 51% of the ordinary and 51% of the preference shares in cable manufacturing company, Malesela Taihan Electric Company (M-TEC).

It said that its share of M-TEC's after-tax earnings is included in the above results with effect from June 1 2008.

"Due to the impact of the economic slowdown and the dramatic decrease in commodity prices, the M-TEC result in the second half of the year was extremely disappointing," it said.

Jasco will announce its results on April 2 2009.

- I-Net Bridge