Company news in brief

Distell eyes expansion in China, Latin AmericaGrowth-hungry South African drinks maker Distell is looking at both China and Latin America for further expansion, although the African continent - which bolstered its results for the first half of the year - remains its main focus.The company, which makes wines, spirits and ciders, is in the early stages of an ambitious expansion plan as it looks to become Africa's premier drinks brand. It said previously that it wants to expand in one major emerging market.Distell aims to double revenue growth by 2021 and is undergoing a hefty modernisation programme to get its existing business in shape.Distell's sales volumes declined in the six months to December 31 in both home and international markets, while across the rest of Africa, and in Kenya in particular, performance was much stronger.That resulted in a very slight decline in sales volumes overall, although Distell managed to raise revenues, resulting in higher earnings and an increased interim dividend of 174 cents per share - up 5.5%. Headline earnings per share stood at 570.7 cents, up from 509.2 cents a year earlier. – Nampa/ReutersCrisis-hit Steinhoff's quarterly sales up 3%South African retailer Steinhoff reported a slight rise in quarterly sales on Thursday and said its business was still suffering from the effects of an accounting fraud.The owner of the Mattress Firm chain in the US and Conforama outlets in France said sales rose 3% to 4.7 billion euros (US$5.4 billion) in the three months to December, with a strong performance at separately listed Africa unit Pepkor compensating for weak results in France, the United States and Asia Pacific.Steinhoff has already written down the value of its assets by more than US$12 billion following the initial findings of an independent investigation into the company's past bookkeeping practices.The full findings of the forensic investigation, being carried out by accounting firm PwC, would be delivered to the board in mid-March before being made public in the middle of the following month.Shares in Steinhoff fell 3.7% to R2.08 as of 0947 GMT, valuing the company at around R9 billion, down from more than R200 billion 15 months ago. – Nampa/ReutersSA's slow growth hurts Imperial’s outlookSouth Africa's Imperial Logistics Ltd said on Thursday that it expects its full-year operating profit to be lower than last year due to rising costs and slow economic growth in its home market.Its shares plunged more than 10% in early trade as investors focused on the weak outlook, which overshadowed a 24% rise in earnings in its first half year.Imperial, which spun-off and listed its automotive arm Motus in November, is battling reduced volumes and lower consumer demand mainly in the consumer packaged goods and healthcare businesses in South Africa.The transport company, which also has operations in Europe, reported continuing headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 300 cents for the six months ended December 31, up from 241 cents a year earlier, due to lower debt levels resulting in lower interest costs.Operating profit from continuing operations were flat in the first half at R1.3 billion. – Nampa/ReutersBritish American Tobacco full-year salesBritish American Tobacco, the second-biggest international tobacco company, reported higher full-year adjusted sales and profit on Thursday, helped by cigarette market share gains and growth in vaping devices.Excluding the impact of currency fluctuations and the 2017 acquisition of Reynolds American, the maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes reported adjusted 2018 revenue of 25.76 billion pounds (US$34.24 billion), up 3.5%.Its adjusted earnings per share were 296.7 pence, up 11.8% on the same basis. Roughly 3 percentage points of the earnings growth was related to a federal tax change in the United States.Looking ahead, BAT forecast another year of high single figure adjusted constant currency earnings growth.The company also said its finance director, Ben Stevens, planned to step down. He will be replaced on August 5 by Tadeu Marroco, currently the company's director of group transformation. Before that, Marroco will serve as deputy finance director from March 1, in addition to his current role. – Nampa/ReutersMondi posts 19% rise in annual profitPackaging and paper group Mondi on Thursday reported a 19% rise in full-year underlying core profit, driven by robust demand for its products and higher average selling prices.The group, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, said underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 1.76 billion euros (US$2.00 billion)in the year ended December 31, up from 1.48 billion euros a year earlier.The 52-year-old firm, like its peers Smurfit Kappa Group Plc, Sappi Ltd and DS Smith Plc, has been plagued by pricing pressures from higher costs for raw materials and said on Thursday it had implemented "strong" cost control across the group.The company, which makes office paper and corrugated cardboard boxes, expanded over the years from being predominantly a producer of printing paper into a packaging manufacturer for consumer goods, with a market capitalisation of about 8.99 billion pounds."Pricing is mixed going into 2019, with recent price reductions in containerboard grades and market pulp and stronger pricing in our kraft paper markets," the company said. – Nampa/ReutersTotal halts French Guiana offshore oil drillingFrench oil giant Total has halted an offshore oil exploration project in French Guiana after months of drilling produced no results.In December, Total said it would start drilling on a maritime licence covering an exploration area 150 kilometres off the coast of the French territory in South America."We did not find any hydrocarbons with this drilling and we stopped operations earlier this week," Olivier Wattez, general director of Total's local affiliate TEPGF, said last week.He said the company had authorisation to carry out five drilling operations, but the first had to be conclusive for it to continue work on the rest.The licence expires in June, but Wattez said Total could no longer apply for an extension or another licence because of a 2017 law progressively phasing out oil and gas exploration on French territory. – Nampa/AFP

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