DURBAN – Steinhoff Investment Holdings, a subsidiary of Steinhoff International, said on Friday it expected consumer spending to continue to be constrained and the ongoing pandemic was causing significant disruptions both on the supplier and demand side for the group.
Steinhoff Investments, which released its results for the year to end September 2019, reported an operating profit from continuing operations of R6.51 billion, improving on the loss of R632 million reported a year earlier.
Steinhoff Investments has been unable to release its 2017 results, following the accounting scandal, which led to a more than 95 percent decline in the share price of its parent company in December 2017.
Steinhoff Investments is the issuer of variable rate, cumulative, non-redeemable, non-participating preference shares with a capital value of R1.5bn.
The group said the preference shares were listed on the JSE and following the events of December 2017, Steinhoff Investments was unable to publish its financial statements for the year to end September 2017 by the requisite date, February 28, 2018.
“The listing of the preference shares was, therefore, suspended by the JSE, effective March 1, 2018, and has remained suspended since that date,” the company said.
But the company explained it is releasing the September 2019 results ahead of the delayed annual financial statements for the years to end September 2016, 2017 and 2018 in order to give the market the most recent financial information as soon as possible.
In the results, revenue from continuing operations increased by 8.5 percent to R69.7bn and profit for the period improved to R3.94bn compared to a loss of R2.91bn reported in 2018.
Its basic and diluted headline earnings per share from continuing operations improved to 5 963.6 cents a share. The group said it has achieved a commendable set of operating results for the 2019 financial year, despite a very difficult retail environment where consumer spending remained constrained, fuelled by high levels of unemployment and low economic growth.
However, the company said the ongoing pandemic was causing significant disruptions both on the supplier and demand side for the group. Its management is continuing to take an active approach, implementing a range of mitigating strategies to protect profitability and cash flow.