South African cement firm PPC’s earnings hit by Zimbabwe inflation

Nov 20 (Reuters) – South African cement company PPC Ltd PPCJ.J reported a lower first-half headline earnings per share on Wednesday, hurt by a weaker Zimbabwean dollar and said it had started a review of its operations.

The company’s results were affected by the application of hyperinflationary accounting by PPC Zimbabwe, which it said complicated comparability at a group level.

Zimbabwe has suspended publication of annual inflation data until February, but economic analysts say the figure reached 440% last month. Many expect the country will miss its target of single-digit levels by the end of the first quarter of 2020.

“PPC has initiated a comprehensive strategic review and certain initiatives necessary for sustainable value creation are underway,” the company said.

PPC reported headline earnings per share (EPS) of 6 South African cents for the six months ended Sept. 30, compared to 21 South African cents a year earlier.

Headline EPS is the main profit measure for South African companies and removes certain one-off items.

The company’s group revenue for the six months fell 12% to 4.95 billion rand ($335.03 million) and there was a 17% decline in overall cement volumes.

($1 = 14.7748 rand)

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

((tanishaa.nadkar@thomsonreuters.com; Within UK +44 20 7542 1810; Outside UK +91 80 6749 1691; Twitter: @TanishaaNadkar;))

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