Indications are that earnings for the year to September will be lower, as trading conditions have not improved as expected, says electronics company Reunert.
At the moment, it looks like headline earnings per share and normalised headline earnings per share will be between 17% and 27% lower than last year, says the company, which will publish its year-end results in November.
Last year, Reunert reported normalised diluted headline earnings per share of 626.9c, a 12% improvement over 2007`s 562c a share.
In a Stock Exchange News Service announcement published on Friday, Reunert explains its operating businesses have seen a "significant decline in volumes". Bad debts have more than doubled compared with last year, and restructuring costs also hammered the company.
In addition, it had losses after selling the Panasonic consumer electronics business and has been hampered by the higher cost of copper, it says.
From 1 April, Panasonic Japan started distributing consumer products directly to the South African consumer market.
Companies are obliged by JSE rules to alert shareholders as soon as they are aware earnings will differ by 20% from the previous period.
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