Adcorp Holdings Limited provided earnings guidance for the half year ended 31 August 2016. For the period, the company’s earnings per share (EPS) are expected to decrease by 8% to 12% and headline earnings per share (HEPS) are expected to decrease by 36% to 40%, compared to the corresponding period. EPS and HEPS are therefore expected to be between 77 cents and 80 cents per share and between 75 cents and 80 cents per share, respectively, compared to EPS of 87.4 cents and HEPS of 125.2 cents in the corresponding period. The expected decrease in EPS and HEPS is primarily due to the negative affect of an unrealized foreign exchange year-on-year swing from gains to losses of ZAR 40 million as well as the impact of once-off transaction costs. Foreign exchange gains and losses emanate primarily from the group's African operations whereby the group's South African Rand reporting currency has strengthened against many of the underlying currencies of those African countries where the group has operations. The first full period inclusion of the lower than expected contribution from Dare and the underperformance from the group's African operations (excluding South Africa) also contributed to the lower year-on-year performance. On a normalized trading position normalized earnings per share for the half year ended 31 August 2016 are expected to be between 17% and 20% lower compared to the corresponding, comparative reporting period. As a result, normalized earnings per share are expected to be between 126 cents and 131 cents, compared to 157.3 cents in the corresponding period. Excluding the negative impact of the unrealized foreign exchange swing from gains to losses, with the exception of those businesses directly impacted by depressed global oil prices namely, the group's African operations (excluding South Africa) as well as Dare, general trading conditions have improved compared to the prior financial year whereby previous volume losses resulting from major changes to South African labour laws continue to recover well. Strong performances have also been achieved by the group's Australian subsidiaries, Paxus and LSA. Accordingly, excluding the negative impact of the unrealised foreign exchange swing from gains to losses, the Group's normalised trading profits are expected to reflect modest year-on-year growth compared to the corresponding, comparative reporting period. The group's cash generative performance remains sound. In this regard, the group has been able to de-gear its net debt position compared to the previous financial year end's debt to equity ratio.