Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) said on Wednesday it expects to post a drop in full-year profit, mainly due to a one-off charge.

PPC said headline earnings per share for the year to end-September were expected to be between 35-45 percent lower, and earnings per share down between 20-30 percent.

The South African cement company said earnings had been hit by a one-off charge relating to a black economic empowerment deal.

South Africa’s government is driving a black economic empowerment programme, under which companies must sell a certain portion of their business to black investors, to include them in the country’s mainstream economy after exclusion under apartheid.

PPC posted an 84 percent drop in first-half headline earnings per share.