OREANDA-NEWS. July 29, 2015. Standard Bank Group will announce its results for the six months ended 30 June 2015 ("the interim results") on Friday, 14 August 2015.

The group has established that a reasonable degree of certainty exists that the interim results will differ from those reported for the six months ended 30 June 2014 ("the comparable period") by more than 20% as set out below.  The expected differences between the interim results and those for the comparable period arise both from the group's trading performance and from items related to the disposal of the group's interests in operations outside of Africa. 

During the period covered by the interim results, the group completed transactions to dispose of its controlling interest in Standard Bank Plc (now renamed ICBC Standard Bank Plc) and its entire interest in Banco Standard de Investimentos S.A., as announced to shareholders on the Stock Exchange News Service of the JSE Limited on 2 February 2015 and 17 April 2015 respectively.  Pursuant to these transactions, earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders include approximately R3.0 billion of net disposal gains excluded from headline earnings.  These net disposal gains consist primarily of releases from the group's foreign currency translation reserve.

Headline earnings to 30 June 2015 include the effects of a recently-finalised partial recovery in respect of insurance claims relating to the external fraud in Qingdao port in China; operating losses and final adjustments up to 31 January 2015 in Standard Bank Plc; and cash flow hedge releases relating to the abovementioned disposals. 

The expected range of performance measures, which include the abovementioned items, for the six months ended 30 June 2015, as compared to the group's earnings measures as reported for the comparable period, is set out below on both an International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and a normalised basis. The "normalised" measures are presented in accordance with the definition on pages 70 to 72 of the group's 2014 annual integrated report.    

The group's key earnings measures for the six months ended 30 June 2015 are expected to exceed the relevant measures for the comparable period by:

·     between 55% and 65% in the case of both undiluted and fully diluted IFRS and normalised earnings per share (EPS); and

·     between 22% and 32% in the case of both undiluted and fully diluted IFRS and normalised headline EPS (HEPS).