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JOHANNESBURG May 28 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Tongaat
Hulett reported a nearly 11 percent rise in full-year
earnings on Monday, boosted by an increase in sugar output and
prices and said it expected production to grow further in the
next season.
The agri-processing company said diluted headline earnings
per share for the year to end-March totalled 819.4 cents from
739.6 cents a year ago.
Headline earnings are the main profit gauge in South Africa
and exclude certain one-off and non-trading items.
Tongaat Hulett has interests in land management and property
development, but its main business is sugar production and
milling.
The company, which has operations in South Africa,
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, said total sugar output rose
14 percent to 1.150 million tonnes.
It said sugar production was expected to increase by between
12 percent and 25 percent in the 2012/13 season.
Tongaat Hulett shares have gained 8 percent so far this
year, compared with a 3 percent rise in Johannesburg’s All-share
Index.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard and Olivia Kumwenda)
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