Company news in brief

SAA requires US$400 mln bailout

South Africa's state carrier SAA requires a R5 billion cash injection in the current financial year to help it meet its financial obligations, a senior treasury official said on Tuesday.

National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane told parliament the cash injection could however not come from government, which has so far pumped R20 billion into the firm.

Mogajane said treasury was willing to consider selling a stake in the airliner to a private equity partner. – Nampa/Reuters

Barlow expects H1 profit to jump

South Africa's Barloworld Limited on Tuesday said it expected its half year profit to rise by as much as 20% boosted by its Southern African and Russian equipment businesses.

It expects headline earnings per share (HEPS) for continuing operations for the six months to 31 March of 440 to 480 cents, up from 400 cents a year earlier.

Barloworld said last month it would sell its underperforming Iberian equipment business. – Nampa/Reuters

Aspen expands with new R1 bn plant

South African drug maker Aspen Pharmacare will produce up to 3.6 billion pills a year at its new manufacturing plant as it expands its therapeutic portfolio, chief executive Stephen Saad said.

Aspen, with operations in 50 countries, has restructured its business to focus on therapeutic products such as steroids, oncolytic and hormonal replacement therapy products, which helped to lift its first-half earnings.

Initially, the R1 billion facility will manufacture oncology products such as Alkeran, Leukeran and Purinethol, which are used for treatment of late stage cancers.

Saad said Aspen's strategy was to take part in the speciality therapeutic segment in order to gain a sustainable global advantage in the market.

Aspen said most of the products would be exported.

The company, Africa’s biggest generic drugmaker, has been expanding rapidly outside South Africa, where a heavily regulated pharmaceuticals market has put a cap on growth. The firm is a supplier and manufacturer of branded and generic pharmaceutical products, as well as infant nutritional and consumer healthcare products. – Nampa/Reuters

Toyota flags lower annual operating profit

Toyota Motor Corp on Wednesday forecast a 4.2% slide in operating profit for the current financial year, as it expects a stronger yen to offset slightly higher global vehicle sales and cost reductions.

A hit to earnings will make it harder for Toyota, the world's most profitable automaker to continue investing in new technologies and products at a time when global automakers are competing fiercely to develop self-driving cars, electric vehicles, and connected technologies.

The automaker is targeting total group sales of 10.5 million vehicles globally in the year to March, slightly more than 10.44 million vehicles last year.

In the year to December 2017, Toyota was the world's No. 3 maker of passenger cars, following the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance and Volkswagen. – Nampa/Reuters

Siemens lifts FY profit guidance

Siemens raised its full year profit guidance on Wednesday, citing a strong first half helped by a 900 million euro (US$1.07 billion) gain from transferring its stake in IT services company Atos SE to its pension fund.

The German engineering group said it now expected full year earnings per share in the range of 7.70 euro to 8 euro per share (US$9.13 to US$9.48), up from its previous guidance of 7.20 euro to 7.70 euro. Siemens' EPS for its 2017 business year was 7.44 euro or 7.09 euro on a comparable basis.

In the three months ended March 31, Siemens reported net profit of 2.02 billion euro, beating the forecast for 1.11 billion euro in a Reuters poll.

Siemens confirmed the rest of its guidance, including expecting a profit margin of 11% to 12% for its industrial business which makes products ranging from trains to turbines. – Nampa/Reuters