Artwell Dlamini
15 August 2008
Johannesburg — TRENCOR was "quite pleased" with its interim results to June. The results drew much of their strength from the weak rand and Textainer, a US-listed container leasing and management company in which Trencor holds a 62,6% stake.
The investment holding company's MD, Hannie van der Merwe, said this week the movement of containerised freight was still taking place at a "satisfactory pace" as large shipping liners were leasing larger numbers of containers from Textainer to make up for slower travel . He said that liners were sailing at slower speeds to reduce fuel costs.
Trencor said an increased contribution from Textainer helped lift diluted headline earnings 84% to 183,4c per share from 99,7c in the previous corresponding period.
It s diluted adjusted headline earnings -- which included net gains and losses arising from the sale of containers from Textainer and excluded the effect of foreign exchange translation gains and losses -- rose to 129,3c per share from 104,7c per share in the previous period.
Trencor declared an interim dividend of 35c.
Trading profit from continuing operations increased 24% from $47m to $58,5m and this translated into a 32% increase from R336m to R443m, Trencor said.
It said rand depreciation also bolstered its bottom line. "The weaker rand has given Trencor earnings a boost," Van der Merwe said.
Trenor said that net exchange gains arising on translation into rands from the net dollar receivables and the related valuation adjustments amounted to R194m, compared with R20m last year.
"The effect of this noncash adjustment was to increase earnings per share by 75c. The effect of this last year was an increase of 8c per share," it said.
Van der Merwe said Textainer had benefited from "economies of scale and increased efficiency", noting its 62,2%-owned unit had beefed up its fleet and improved fleet utilisation.
Textainer's average utilisation of the container fleet under its management for the six months to June was 93,4%, compared with 93,6% at the same time last year.
"There was also an increase in the containers under management on long-term lease -- 67,9% of the 2-million TEU (20 -foot equivalent unit) under management compared to 62,7% of the 1,5-million TEU in 2007," it said.
Last Tuesday, Textainer reported that its earnings for the six months to June grew to $48m compared with $32m last year.
The group reported that Textainer's average utilisation of the container fleet under its management for the period was 93,4%, compared to the 93,6% at the same stage last year.
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