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Fri 6 Mar 2026
Close: 181c 
Day's move: -9c (-4.74%)
Volume: 3 266 570
Trades: 458
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Revenue for the period decreased by 3% to R14.9 billion (2024: R15.4 billion) whilst gross profit went up 14% to R3.1 billion (2024: R2.8 billion). Operating profit increased by 8% to R1.2 billion (2024: R1.1 billion). Profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent grew 29% to R521 million (2024: R405 million). In addition, headline earnings per share increased to 22.7 cents per share (2024: 17.2 cents per share).
Dividend declaration
The board has historically not declared an interim dividend. In considering KAP’s net debt levels within the context of the subdued and uncertain macroeconomic environment, the board believes it prudent to maintain this approach and focus on the reduction of debt.
Group outlook
As described earlier, the improvement in the group’s 1H26 results was largely attributable to an easing of specific factors experienced in 1H25. This improvement was underpinned by disciplined and focused execution across the group, including operating production facilities at optimal efficiencies, developing new products and markets, improving underperforming operations and tightly managing costs and working capital.
The group has made good progress against the following key strategic objectives, to increase balance sheet flexibility, improve returns and deliver earnings growth over the medium term:
• Value realisation from major capital projects: Our major capital projects, amounting to c. R2.6 billion, were completed in FY24, and ramped up in FY25. PG Bison’s new MDF line is the largest of these and, given the 33% increase in the division’s production capacity, offers compelling growth opportunities for the group.
• Address underperformance: The most material areas of underperformance relate to Unitrans and Optix. Appropriate strategies and executive capacity are in place to bring their performances in line with our expectations over the medium term.
• Reduce net debt: We are targeting a reduction of R500 million in FY26, with a further reduction planned for FY27. We expect these reductions to be supported by the contribution of the major capital projects, an improved performance from mainly Unitrans, and prudent capital allocation.
In the near term, we expect a softening in the group’s 2H26 performance relative to 1H26, mostly due to seasonality in demand and related volumes, as well as the timing of maintenance shutdowns in PG Bison. The stronger rand relative to the US dollar presents near term pressure for Safripol, as both raw materials and selling prices for its products are priced in US dollars.
Results webcast
A live webcast of the interim results presentation will be broadcast at 10:00 am (SAST) on Thursday, 26 February 2026. The webcast registration link is https://www.corpcam.com/KAP26022026 and can be accessed on the KAP website at www.kap.co.za.
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| Closing price data source: JSE Ltd. All other statistics calculated by ProfileData. |
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