| Wed 16 Feb 2011, 16:43 | | DSY - Discovery Holdings Limited - Trading Statement |
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DSY
DSY
DSY - Discovery Holdings Limited - Trading Statement
DISCOVERY HOLDINGS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number: 1999/007789/06)
ISIN: ZAE000022331
Share Code: DSY
("Discovery" or "the Company")
TRADING STATEMENT
Discovery is currently finalising its results for the 6 months ended
31 December 2010 ("the period"), which will be released on 22 February 2011.
Normalised Headline Earnings per share, which excludes the effects of the
acquisition of Standard Life Healthcare and realised gains on available-for-sale
financial instruments, is expected to be between 20% and 30% higher than the
corresponding reporting period of the previous year. Management is of the view
that this best represents the operating results for the period.
Shareholders are referred to the announcement of 11 May 2010 wherein Discovery
announced its acquisition of the entire share capital of Standard Life
Healthcare, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Standard Life Group, for R1.56bn
(GBP138m), as well as the related increase in shareholding in Prudential Health
Holdings Ltd ("PHHL"), the holding company of PruHealth and PruProtect, the
joint ventures between Discovery and Prudential Assurance Company ("Prudential")
of the United Kingdom("the Transaction").
Applying the requirements of IFRS3: Business Combinations to the Transaction
results in several large impacts in the income statement of the Company,
including the recording of a substantial profit on the increase in Discovery`s
shareholding in PHHL from 50% to 75%. Full details of these impacts will be
provided with the results.
In order to assist in understanding the results for the period, Discovery
intends providing an indication of Normalised Headline Earnings. Normalised
Headline Earnings is defined as Earnings excluding the impact of the Transaction
and excluding realised gains on available-for-sale financial instruments.
Headline Earnings per share which includes some, but not all, of the impacts of
the Transaction and excludes realised gains, is expected to be between 10% and
20% lower than the corresponding reporting period of the previous year.
Earnings per share which includes all of the impacts of the Transaction and
realised gains, is expected to be between 65% and 75% higher than the
corresponding reporting period of the previous year.
The financial information on which this trading statement is based has not been
reviewed and reported on by the Company`s external auditors.
Sandton
16 February 2011
Sponsor
RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)
Date: 16/02/2011 16:43:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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