AST has reported positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the six months to December, compared with a loss for the previous interim period.
CEO John Miller says that during the six months the group focused on implementing its turnaround strategy, dubbed the "Business Improvement Programme", and he says the results "demonstrate that the benefits are starting to come through".
An operating loss of R59.21 million on revenue of R886.04 million compares with a year-earlier operating loss of R144.72 million on revenue of R1.2 billion, while the net loss improved from R134.28 million to R95.08 million.
A headline loss of 13.23c per share compares with a 90.48c loss previously. The basic loss per share improved from 234.24c to 62.11c.
"The programme is well advanced and we are now anticipating sustainable annualised cost savings of at least R260 million compared to the historic cost base," Miller says.
"The full effect of this will only be realised in our next fiscal year, as previously advised. We are currently seeing R15 million of cost savings per month on our run rate compared to July 2003, despite some pressure on revenue."
In line with the turnaround programme, staff numbers have been cut from 3 662 to 3 061 since December 2002.
"Black economic empowerment (BEE) continues to gain importance in procurement decisions in the corporate market. We realise the importance of transformation in our group but felt we needed to see significant progress on the Business Improvement Programme before giving attention to BEE. We are now seriously addressing the introduction of a meaningful BEE equity partner to AST."
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