S.Africa's Hulamin H1 profit drops 34 pct

South African aluminium products maker and marketer Hulamin Ltd on Monday reported a 34 percent drop in first-half operating profit due to electricity shortages and planned maintenance.

Africa's most advanced economy is the midst of its worst power crisis and is struggling to keep the lights on as its aging fleet of power stations becomes more unreliable. Hulamin had earlier warned that disruptions were impacting production.

Hulamin reported basic and diluted headline earnings per share of 25 cents and 24 cents respectively for the first half ended June 30, compared with 41 and 40 cents per share a year earlier.

Headline earnings per share is the key measure used in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.

In April, the company said it expected first-half earnings to drop by 44 percent due to power shortages.

Hulamin's profit for the six months ended June was at R138 million, down from R210 million for the same period last year. The company said it would pay an interim dividend of 8 cents per share.

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