Astral’s shares surge on bounce back in headline earnings
Power generation costs come down and Avian flu is largely contained.
by Moneyweb · MoneywebAstral Foods expects its headline earnings per share (Heps) to jump to between 874 cents and 891 cents for the six months ended 31 March 2024, according to a Sens trading statement posted on the JSE on Monday morning.
In the corresponding half-year period in 2023, Heps came in at 163 cents per share. The expected improvement is thanks to fewer hours of load shedding and a recovery from the devastating effects of bird flu in last year.
Read: Astral recovers after bird flu outbreak
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The market reacted positively to the update, with Astral’s share price surging more than 7%, to just over R150 in early morning trade.
Astral’s statement on its bounce-back to profit comes as South Africa has enjoyed more than 30 consecutive days of no load shedding, which is also likely to impact positively on the first months of the group’s second half of its 2024 financial year.
Eskom’s improved generation capacity is largely thanks to the contribution from solar plants and rooftop solar installations. Economists expect the lower occurrence of blackouts to work in the favour of companies who have had to cough up significant amounts in diesel costs to keep their operations going.
Astral said in a statement at the end of January 2024 that the costs associated with power generation have come down. The company is also recovering from the devastating bird flu outbreak in 2023, which hit profits.
Last year, the group recorded an operating loss of R621 million for the full year ended September 2023. This was the first loss in the company’s 23-year history.