UPDATE 1-Datatec says FY Headline EPS down 20 pct

* Earnings hit by put option liabilities

* Expects FY Headline EPS in 2010 at 23 U.S cts per share.

(Adds details)

JOHANNESBURG, May 14 (Reuters) - South African IT firm Datatec Ltd (DTCJ.J) posted a 20 percent decline in headline earnings per share for the year to end February, in line with its own forecast, and forecast even lower earnings for 2010.

The company, which is listed in London and Johannesburg and is a distributor for companies such as Cisco, said in a statement headline EPS were 36.3 U.S cents in the year to end-February compared with 45.6 U.S cents in the previous year.

It said underlying EPS came in at 33.1 U.S cents compared to 47.3 U.S cents in 2008.

The company said earnings were affected by the fair value adjustments of the put option liabilities. It said put option liabilities initially raised against equity across the group was $43.1 million.

Datatec added that a reduction in put option liabilities had resulted in a non-operating profit of $16.8 million.

The group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was down to $125.6 million, which included unrealised foreign exchange gains of $0.4 million, compared to $150.7 million in the previous year.

Datatec said it had net cash of $36.2 million, including long-term and short-term debt, and declared a 12 U.S cents dividend for the year.

The company said it expects both earnings per share and headline earnings per share for the 2010 financial year to be about 23 U.S cents per share, largely due to tough trading conditions caused by the global economic downturn.

(Reporting by Gugulakhe Lourie)