Fleet management solutions company DigiCore Holdings has reported a 42.6% plunge in attributable earnings for its full year, from R23.1 million to R13.25 million.
<B>Salient figures</B>
Comparex Holdings results for the year to 31 May 2002
Previous year`s figures in parentheses:
Revenue: R193.67m (R308.5m)
Operating profit before depreciation and impairment loss: R26.33m (R44.6m)
Net operating profit: R16.59m (R35.04m)
Profit after tax: R13.2m (R23.18m)
Attributable earnings: R13.25m (R23.116m)
HEPS: 7.2c (10.8c)
Current assets: R93.75m (R84.74m)
Current liabilities: R30.33m (R34.47m)
NAV per share: 44.2c (38.7c)
NTAV per share: 34.6c (27.5c)
Cash generated by operations: R21.09m (R49.43m)
Cash and equivalents: R20.28m (R18.13m)
Executive deputy chairman Nick Vlok says although revenue declined by R114.8 million in the year to 30 June, last year`s results included a R150 million order from debis Fleet Management.
"Despite a stagnant local market, the company broadened its revenue base organically, doubling exports to Europe and Pakistan," he says.
A substantial margin improvement was recorded with the focus on higher-value sales, aided by inflation-linked price increases and improved stock management.
Operating costs were cut by R5.9 million through closing non-viable branches and improved business efficiencies following staff training programmes.
Vlok says DigiCore`s C-Track system is no longer an optional extra for certain luxury lines and is now installed on an original equipment manufacturer basis at Honda`s assembly plant in Pakistan.
"This drove the 144% growth in turnover generated by the Pakistani operations." Sales in Europe grew by 83%.
He says although higher interest rates have a negative effect on capital spend, the rand`s devaluation places greater emphasis on managing and safeguarding expensive equipment and vehicles.
"This provides an incentive to fleet managers to invest in real-time vehicle management, tracking and operational monitoring systems in optimising fleet utilisation and curbing abuse."
The company`s strategy remains to invest consistently in its IT capabilities.
The balance sheet reflects slightly higher working capital levels and Vlok says the group is confident that with most major operations now using the JD Edwards enterprise resource planning system, it can achieve a further improvement in working capital.
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