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Johannesburg - Chemical Specialities [JSE:CSP] on Thursday reported that its loss widened to R31m in the year to end March 2013 from R14m in the previous financial year despite a 24% rise in revenue to R471m.
The basic loss per share increased by 35% to 2.89 cents‚ while the debt to equity ratio more than doubled to 56% from 22%.
Chemspec is a wholly South African company in which the Industrial Development Corporation is a major shareholder.
The company said that the past year was a year of investment in the future sustainability of the business and it put together a number of key investment strategies.
The second half of the year was tougher than expected‚ with periods of slower trade in the US and Australian businesses and some margin issues in South Africa.
Revenue increased but margins fell as a result of increased cost push inflation through rand weakness‚ together with oil price and general commodity price increases from suppliers.
The US business had an excellent first half in which it grew by more than 30%‚ but this was followed by a weak second half‚ resulting from generally poorer trading conditions in the automotive sector and the severe impact of super-storm Sandy on the group’s largest customer in the US‚ leaving the company with flat sales on last year.
Chemspec said the automotive and industrial businesses in SA are growing and partner technology was allowing them to change the mix of this category to improve margin and price mix.
ChemSpec has adopted austerity measures on top of its growth plan and is expected to continue to improve its results in the coming year.
The basic loss per share increased by 35% to 2.89 cents‚ while the debt to equity ratio more than doubled to 56% from 22%.
Chemspec is a wholly South African company in which the Industrial Development Corporation is a major shareholder.
The company said that the past year was a year of investment in the future sustainability of the business and it put together a number of key investment strategies.
The second half of the year was tougher than expected‚ with periods of slower trade in the US and Australian businesses and some margin issues in South Africa.
Revenue increased but margins fell as a result of increased cost push inflation through rand weakness‚ together with oil price and general commodity price increases from suppliers.
The US business had an excellent first half in which it grew by more than 30%‚ but this was followed by a weak second half‚ resulting from generally poorer trading conditions in the automotive sector and the severe impact of super-storm Sandy on the group’s largest customer in the US‚ leaving the company with flat sales on last year.
Chemspec said the automotive and industrial businesses in SA are growing and partner technology was allowing them to change the mix of this category to improve margin and price mix.
ChemSpec has adopted austerity measures on top of its growth plan and is expected to continue to improve its results in the coming year.
