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Johannesburg - Sun International [JSE:SUI] is currently finalising its results for the six months ended December 31 2015, which are expected to be released before the end of February 2016.
Shareholders are advised that in comparison to the results of the corresponding reporting period of the previous half year, EBITDA is expected to be between 2% below and 1% above the R1 611m reported last year.
Diluted adjusted headline earnings per share (AHEPS), which the company considers the most meaningful measure of its performance, are likely to be between 309 cents and 351 cents per share (15% to 25%) lower than the 410 cents reported last year.
Loss per share (LPS) is likely to be between 430 cents to 470 cents per share compared to the 849 cents earnings of last year and headline loss per share (HLPS) is likely to be between 450 cents to 490 cents per share compared to the 372 cents earnings of last year.
The LPS and HLPS are attributed to the following the raising of an accrual of R747m for settlement of the Menlyn Maine note as a result of the Peermont group acquisition being unlikely to proceed and the settlement of the GoldRush legal challenge to Menlyn Maine.
There was also an earn out payment of R195m relating to the minority interest in Monticello that was acquired by the company last year as a result of Monticello achieving the earnings targets set out in the transactional agreements.
Subdued casino trading in the group's core South African market, and interest and capital charges from the Ocean Sun Casino in Panama for the full period (opened September 2014) and the Sun Nao Casino in Colombia (opened May 2015) are other factors that impacted the results.
Monticello continues to trade well with casino revenue up 14% (6% in local currency).
The group said partly offsetting the impact of the above charges is a foreign exchange gain on intercompany accounts. The difference between earnings per share and headline earnings per share for last year was largely attributable to the R462m profit realised from the sale of a significant portion of the group's shareholdings in the group's operations located in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zambia.
In deriving AHEPS, the foreign exchange profits on inter-company accounts, the Menlyn Maine settlement accruals and the Monticello earn out payment have been adjusted for.
