Sharenet Sites 
Sharenet Sites
Trading statement
Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) (“Aspen Holdings” or “the Company”)
Registration number: 1985/0002935/06
Share code: APN
ISIN: ZAE000066692
and its subsidiaries (collectively “Aspen” or “the Group”)
TRADING STATEMENT
This trading statement is provided to Aspen Holdings shareholders as guidance on
the key performance metrics relating to the results of the Group for the year ended
30 June 2019, expected to be published on SENS on 11 September 2019, after
market close. These key performance metrics are set out below:
• Revenue growth as reported, and in constant exchange rates (“CER”), is
expected to be within the following ranges:
Reported revenue growth: 0% to 2.0%
CER revenue growth: -3.0% to 0%
Reported revenue benefitted from positive relative exchange rate influences.
• Revenue growth (in CER) from Commercial Pharmaceuticals in emerging
markets was marginally positive, while being marginally negative in developed
markets, resulting in overall CER growth from this segment expected to be
between -1% and 0%. Revenue was impacted by underperformance in the
Europe CIS region, constrained Anaesthetics supply and a strike at the South
African manufacturing sites, offset by positive sales results in the Asia Pacific and
Latin American regions.
• The Group delivered strong cash flows in the second half, including a positive
cash inflow from working capital for the six months to 30 June 2019.
• The operating cash flow to headline earnings conversion ratio is expected to be
reported at more than 100% for the year ended 30 June 2019, up from 47% in
the six months to 31 December 2018.
• Net borrowings declined to less than ZAR 40.0 billion at 30 June 2019, from ZAR
53.5 billion at 31 December 2018.
• The leverage ratio is expected to end between 3.60x and 3.70x against a
covenant threshold of 4.0x, as at 30 June 2019.
• During the year, the Group disposed of the Nutritionals business and
discontinued or divested of a non-core pharmaceutical portfolio of products in the
Asia Pacific region. In Aspen’s interim results for the 6 months ended 31
December 2018, these prospective discontinuations and divestments were
classified as discontinued operations with all related assets and liabilities
transferred to assets held-for-sale in terms of IFRS 5. As at 30 June 2019 these
discontinuations and disposals were complete and the results of the disposals
are included as part of discontinued operations. The net profit before tax from
these disposals amounted to approximately ZAR 5.4 billion.
• Rigorous impairment testing of tangible and intangible asset values was once
again performed, resulting in total impairments of the order of ZAR 3.0 billion.
Contributing factors to these impairments are expected pressure on the oncology
portfolio in Europe and the restructuring of certain production facilities to align
these with production process improvements and expected future manufacturing
requirements.
Normalised headline earnings per share (“NHEPS”) for the year ended 30 June 2019
is expected to vary from those reported in the prior year ended 30 June 2018 within
the following ranges:
Measure Range Cents per share – Cents per Note
30 June 2019 share in the
prior year -
30 June 2018
Restated*
NHEPS – Total -11% to -7% 1 433.6 to 1 498.1 1 610.8 1
NHEPS – -9% to -5% 1 381.8 to 1 442.5 1 518.5 1
Continuing
Operations
*NHEPS has been restated taking into account the impact of implementing IFRS 15. The net impact is an increase of 6 cents
for each of the listed performance measures for the year ended 30 June 2018
Note1: NHEPS comprises headline earnings per share adjusted for specific non-
trading items. NHEPS is the primary measure used by management to
assess Aspen’s underlying financial performance.
Headline earnings per share for the year ended 30 June 2019 is expected to vary from
those reported in the prior year ended 30 June 2018 within the following ranges:
Measure Range Cents per share – Cents per Note
30 June 2019 share in the
prior year -
30 June 2018
Restated*
Headline earnings -17% to -13% 1 224.0 to 1 283.0 1 474.7 2
per share - Total
Headline earnings -13% to -9% 1 203.7 to 1 259.0 1 383.5 2
per share –
Continuing
Operations
*Headline Earnings per share for the prior year has been restated taking into account the impact of implementing IFRS 15. The
net impact is an increase of 6 cents for each of the listed performance measures for the year ended 30 June 2018.
Note 2: Headline earnings per share has been negatively impacted by increases in
litigation costs, restructuring costs and transaction related costs.
Earnings per share for the year ended 30 June 2019 is expected to vary from those
reported in the prior year ended 30 June 2018 within the following ranges:
Measure Range Cents per share – Cents per Note
30 June 2019 share in the
prior year -
30 June 2018
Restated*
Earnings per 17% to 21% 1 547.3 to 1600.2 1 322.5 3
share- Total
Earnings per -54% to -50% 566.4 to 615.7 1 231.3 3
share- Continuing
operations
* Earnings per share for the prior year has been restated taking into account the impact of implementing IFRS 15. The net
impact is an increase of 6 cents for each of the listed performance measures for the year ended 30 June 2018.
Note 3: Earnings per share has been positively impacted by the profit on the sale of
the discontinued operations partially offset by impairments in continuing
operations. The impairments are the primary cause of the decline in earnings
per share from continuing operations.
The financial results on which this trading statement is based have not been reviewed
or reported on by Aspen’s external auditors.
Durban
3 September 2019
Sponsor: Investec Bank Limited
Date: 03/09/2019 08:30:00
Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.
