Analysts expect AST Group to report a loss of about 1c a share when it releases its interim results towards the end of the month. However, a medium-term recovery is on the cards.
AST was to release its results for the six months to December earlier this month, but that has been postponed. The company says it will release the figures before the end of this month, in accordance with JSE deadlines.
It has warned that it will report an attributable loss for the period and that full-year headline earnings per share will be lower than those for the 2002 financial year.
For the six months to December 2001 it reported a net profit of R29.35 million and headline earnings of 12.91c. For the year to June 2002 AST incurred a net loss of R54.88 million and headline earnings of 20.08c a share.
Analysts say the interim loss should be 1c to 1.5c a share. Although the full-year forecast could change after the interim results are announced, the consensus at present is that AST will report full-year headline earnings of 19.1c a share.
However, there is also market talk that the group may be ripe for acquisition. The share price, 11c this morning, is well below the last year-end net asset value and the group has a healthy cash position. Most analysts polled also say the group has good prospects and they expect AST to recover in the medium-term.
The strongest gossip is that Bytes Technology Group (BTG) is interested in taking at least a slice of AST. That, however, has been dismissed by both BTG and AST as mere rumour.
"Let me quash that once and for all," says BTG financial director Peter Riskowitz. "We never have looked at buying AST and we will not." He says although he has also heard the rumour, it is "totally unfounded".
An AST spokesperson concurs. "The market is full of rumours about AST, but we definitely haven`t been in anything with Bytes," she says.
Share
