JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African property company Sycom increased its first-half headline earnings per share by 28 percent and confirmed on Wednesday its full-year target for 5 percent growth in distributable earnings.

Sycom said in a statement headline earnings in the six months to end September increased to 60.55 cents per unit -- or share -- from 47.14 cents in the year-ago period.

Headline earnings per share -- the key measure of profit in South Africa -- strip out capital, non-trading and certain extraordinary items.

Sycom said distributable earnings in the period increased by just 1.6 percent to 54.97 cents, which was 3.3 percent lower than the previous six month period due in part to the sale of some high-yielding properties.

"The growth in earnings for the year to 31 march 2006 is still expected to be approximately 5 percent," said Sycom in a statement.

Sycom owns several major shopping malls in and around Johannesburg, South Africa's commercial capital.

Shares in Sycom closed unchanged on Wednesday at 16.60 rand. The Johannesburg all-share index was marginally higher.