S.Africa's Tongaat Hulett profit falls on lower sugar output

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Tongaat Hulett Ltd said on Monday its full-year profit fell 18 percent, in line with its estimate, due to weak global sugar prices and low production caused by severe drought. The sugar producer said headline earnings per share - which strips out certain one-off items - was 678 cents compared with 826 cents in the previous year. Southern Africa, where Tongaat has its mills, is suffering a severe drought that has cut production of crops ranging from maize to sugar. "Volumes were impacted by lower cane yields due to the severe drought in KwaZulu-Natal and poor growing conditions with low rainfall and restricted irrigation levels in Mozambique and Zimbabwe as a result of low water and dam levels," said chief executive Peter Staude. Tongaat said sugar production for the year ended March 2016 declined by 291,000 tonnes to 1.023 million tonnes from last year's 1.314 million tonnes. Tongaat, which also operates in Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, expects to benefit from improved local sugar market revenues following import protection measures implemented in its local markets. It declared a final dividend of 60 cents, bringing the annual dividend down 39.5 percent to 230 cents from 380 cents the year before. (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mark Potter)