7 November 2011 – interim results
In the six months to 30 September, the group has announced a 35% increase in revenues to £81.4m, with like-for-like sales up by over 21%. Pre-tax profits for the period rose by 190% to £5.8m with earnings per share increasing by 67% to 0.2p. These results demonstrate that Lonrho is making great strides in building its business in Africa and during the period the group made five acquisitions to help develop its core capabilities. Since the end of the period, further strong growth has been seen in all divisions and this is expected to continue through to the end of the 15 month accounting period to 31 December. The long term attractions of Africa as an investment are compelling and the recent share price weakness means that the shares remain a BUY.