Lonrho continues to show solid growth across its operations and is to invest further in agribusiness, its largest division. The group currently owns 51 per cent of the Rollex food processing and logistics business and will increase that to 100 per cent in the coming weeks. Rollex distributes fresh produce to Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and will shortly be opening channels to sell to the US too. The John Deere franchise in Angola received its first substantial order at the end of March and Lonrho has also acquired the John Deere dealerships in Mozambique, where management expects strong near-term growth.
Turnover at the Luba Freeport in Equatorial Guinea increased almost 20 per cent and the number of liner and tanker calls to the port has increased significantly over the previous year. Lonrho's airline business Fly540 also continues to expand and lifted turnover by 22.5 per cent. The first aircraft recently arrived in the Angolan capital Luanda in preparation for the start of scheduled operations from that hub. Operations are expected to begin in Ghana mid-year.
Lonrho strengthened its balance sheet with a £25m fund raising last December. Renaissance Capital is forecasting full-year EPS of 0.4p, rising to 1.5p in 2011.
| LONRHO (LONR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 12p | MARKET VALUE: | £123m | |
| TOUCH: | 11.5-12p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 15p | LOW: 4.9p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 9p | NET DEBT: | 9% | |
| Half-year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 41.5 | -0.9 | -0.3 | nil |
| 2010 | 47.3 | -1.5 | -0.1 | nil |
| % change | +14 | - | - | - |
