Markets

Mondi FY profit jumps, sees further growth

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South Africa's Mondi, which is also listed in London, said headline earnings per share for the year to end-December totalled 47 euro cents, from 11.4 euro cents a year earlier.

Headline EPS is the key measure of profitability in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.

"Demand growth over the past 18 months has been very encouraging, with volumes in most grades and geographic regions back at satisfactory levels," chief executive David Hathorn said in a statement.

Harthorn said demand is expected to climb futher in 2011, albeit at a more modest rate.

Mondi, mainly involved in the manufacture of packaging paper, said revenue rose 18 percent to 6.2 billion euros ($8.49 billion), while underlying operating profit was up 73 percent to 509 million euros.

Mondi declared a final dividend of 16.5 euro cents per share.

Mondi's rivals Sappi , UPM-Kymmene's and Stora Enso also reported growth in profits earlier this month.

The company's shares were up 0.81 percent at 62.10 rand as of 0718 GMT, compared with a 0.3 percent rise in the Johannesburg's All-share Index.

Copyright Reuters, 2011