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Tiso Blackstar Group [JSE:TBG] released a trading statement on Tuesday, saying the media company expected a lost of 142.96 cents per share.
However, it added that this decline was due to "once-off" costs, including the write-off of the group’s interest in steel pipe manufacturer Robor.
"While a decline in earnings is expected to be reported, this was mainly due to the following once-off costs, which had no impact on the group's trading performance," the statement said. It added that impairments relating to discontinued operations also played a role, as did the relocation of various operations of marketing and communications business Hirt & Carter to one facility.
The company owns a number of national news publications, including Business Day, Financial Mail, Sowetan and its flagship title, Sunday Times.
The company said "a reasonable degree of certainty" existed that the financial results for the year ended 30 June 2019 will show a basic loss per share of between 204.49 cents and 221.64 cents, a decrease of between 43.0% and 55.0%.
This is compared to the basic loss of 142.96 cents per share for the comparative period.
A headline loss per share of between 46.96 cents and 50.49 cents was also expected, a decrease of between 59.6% and 71.6%, when compared to the headline loss of 29.43 cents per share for the comparative period.
Earlier in October, the Competition Commission approved, without conditions, a R1bn transaction whereby Lebashe Group would acquire Tiso Blackstar Group.
