Africa-Press – South-Africa. CAPE TOWN – SUPER Group’s share price shot up 9.9 percent yesterday afternoon after a trading update said its financial position was “robust” and cash flow had been “resilient” through the pandemic for the six months to December 31, 2020.
The share price of the international supply chain management, dealerships and fleet management group traded as high as R26.44 yesterday afternoon, representing an almost 30 percent rise in the price over three months.
The good performance had been achieved despite the negative impact of lockdowns, including the continuing South African alert level 3 regulations, the group said in the update.
The Australian, German and UK businesses were impacted by lockdown restrictions with the most significant impact experienced in the UK, where the group’s dealerships were impacted by the lockdown from November 5, 2020, which was reimplemented on January 4 until at least the next month.
Group revenue from operations of R20 billion was 5.8 percent above the prior comparable period, reflecting strong sales performances in the Supply Chain Europe and Dealerships UK in particular.
The Dealerships UK performance reflected good sales demand over the four-month period to November 5, 2020.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation for the six months of R2.2bn was 6.2 percent above the prior comparable period.
The focus for the group for now remained on cash generation and management of working capital.
Profit before tax was expected to increase by 9.8 percent to 14.3 percent, while headline earnings a share was expected to rise by 3.6 percent to 6.2 percent. The interim results are scheduled for release on February 22.
The group had caught up with all capital projects that were delayed as a result of the level 5 and 4 lockdowns in South Africa.
Net debt to equity, excluding IFRS 16, was about 21.5 percent as at December 31, slightly better than already low 24.1 percent in June 2020.
“The focus for the next six months would remain on minimising the impact of the restrictions imposed due to Covid-19, the retention of existing contracts and the optimisation of new business solutions across a number of new customers in the Supply Chain and Fleet operations in particular,” group directors said.
Super Group’s share price rose 9.81 percent to close at R26.41 on the JSE yesterday.
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