[miningmx.com] — SOUTH Africa’s Hulamin, Africa’s biggest maker of semi-fabricated aluminium, on Monday reported flat first-half profit as a stronger rand offset an increase in sales, and said it expected solid demand to continue.
Hulamin said headline earnings per share for the six months to end-June was 11 cents, compared with 12 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS is the main profit gauge in South Africa and strips out certain one-off, financial and non-trading items.
The company said sales volumes increased 32 percent to 94,000 tonnes.
Higher sales were offset by the stronger rand and a transport strike in May that caused port congestion and constrained exports, the company said.
A stronger rand is a negative for exporters because it eats into earnings when overseas revenue is brought home.
The company also said upward cost pressures persist, particularly in energy, labour and the start-up costs of its new plant capacity.
Hulamin said the business outlook remained positive on firm market demand.
