Aluminium group Hulamin is expecting its headline earnings to almost halve in its 2022 financial year partly due to a lag in prices between buying and selling metal.
The company, valued at R937m on the JSE, sees its headline earnings per share (Heps), the main profit measure in SA that excludes certain items, to drop 41%-49% year on year to 93c-107c in its 2022 year to end-December.
But it added in a trading statement that normalised Heps, which excludes metal price lag and material non-trading expense or income items, is expected to rise 20%-38% to 98c-113c.
Hulamin said the key difference between Heps and normalised Heps in its results is the metal price lag accounting for R426m, or 138c per share, in its 2021 financial year.
Pietermaritzburg-based Hulamin buys primary aluminium and supplies a range of high-value, niche rolled products and complex extrusions. Aluminium rolling, the uses of which include cans, accounts for most revenue.
Former CEO Richard Jacob retired in September after 12 years at the helm, with Geoff Watson stepping in as interim CEO.
In June 2022, its share price fell the most in one day since listing in 2007 after a potential suitor pulled out of a deal to buy the business.
The price of aluminium peaked in March 2022 on the London Metal Exchange, but is down more than 30% over the past year.
The company will release its 2022 annual results on March 6.
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