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Johannesburg - Listed human capital management group Adcorp Holdings said on Tuesday its full year results reflected a pleasing performance in a tough trading environment.
Group revenue was posted at R6.4bn for the year to February 2012. This is a 19% increase on the previous year's results.
Headline earnings of 209.1 cents per share were seven percent higher than the 195.7 cents reported for the previous year.
A final dividend of 80 cents a share was declared, bringing the total dividend to 137 cents for the year.
"The financial results are most pleasing, given a relatively tough trading environment as well as the ongoing regulatory and legislative uncertainty the group has been subjected to, with regard to the future of labour broking," said Adcorp CEO Richard Pike.
Normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were posted at R309 million for the year, 20 percent higher than the previous year's normalised earnings of R259 million.
This excludes non-trading IFRS accounting adjustments.
Adcorp said its blue-collar flexible staffing businesses had performed exceptionally well.
"This growth was achieved by way of market share gains as well as by way of an increased demand for highly skilled artisans and technicians," the group said.
This sector is the largest contributor to group profitability. However, the white-collar businesses had mixed fortunes. The permanent placement business had recorded strong profit growth. It was buoyed by a skills shortage in the engineering and information technology sectors.
The white-collar contracting business endured relatively difficult market conditions.
Volumes remained under pressure in the financial services sector. Business processing outsourcing operations also experienced mixed fortunes. Operations focused on delivering relevant, affordable financial products to Adcorp's workforce performed particularly well. Training delivered a credible contribution.
Collections remained difficult, the group admitted.
"Despite this, the number of debtors' days outstanding at year end remained static at 36 days, in line with the prior year."
The group was currently assessing the impact labour broking bills and other amendments to labour legislation would have on its business.
"It is anticipated that their impact on group performance is expected to be relatively minimal. Given the increased complexity this additional legislation could entail, it may even have the potential to be positive for the business," said Pike.
