Shawcell has reported flat results for the six months to June, with attributable earnings up less than 1%.
Shawcell, listed on the JSE's telecommunications services sector, comprises three main operating divisions specialising in telecommunications and financial services.
<B>Salient figures</B>
Shawcell Telecommunications results for the six months to 30 June 2002.
Year-earlier figures in parentheses:
Revenue: R28.23m (R29.84m)
Operating profit: R14.66m (R14.61m)
Net profit before tax: R17.9m (R17.77m)
Attributable earnings: R17.9m (R17.77m)
HEPS: 1.19c (1.18c)
Current assets: R217.01m (R151.3m)
Current liabilities: R86.61 (R74.95m)
Cash flow from operating activities: R7.85m (R715 000)
Cash and equivalents: R780 000 (-R12.75m)
Shaw Cellular, the largest single income stream for Vodacom, sells cellular phone contracts and prepaid products and earns airtime revenue on these.
The group, which describes its attributable earnings growth as "slight but pleasing", says improved efficiency in current asset management has been a key management focus.
This resulted in a reduction of the bank overdraft from R21 million to R8 million, with cash in hand of R8.8 million.
Current assets now exceed current liabilities by R130 million or 2.5 times.
"The cellular division continues to maintain its growth in the local market as a distributor of Vodacom and Cell C airtime contracts and prepaid cards," it says.
The start-up costs of its expansion into the rest of Africa as a Vodacom superdealer have been written off entirely against current earnings, and the group says the investment is expected to result in enhanced earnings in future periods.
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