Latest news and views in Brief
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s headline consumer inflation quickened to 6.1 percent year-on-year in April, slightly above market expectations, from 6.0 percent in March, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. On a month-on-month basis prices also beat expectations, increasing by 0.5 percent in April from 1.3 percent previously. Core inflation, which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The rand weakened against the dollar early on Wednesday with bears looking to push the South African currency past a two-week low although trade would be influenced by inflation data due later in the session. The rand hit a two-week low of 10.4775 to the dollar on Tuesday, breaking support at 10.45 … Read more
The Spar Group has released its interim results for the 6 month period ended 31 March 2014. Spar currently holds a R22 billion market cap, with a PE ratio of 18.2 and a dividend yield of 3.82%, Spar’s shares are trading up by 7.49% on the year although the share price has dipped down just under … Read more
(Reuters) – South Africa’s biggest consumer foods maker Tiger Brands Ltd reported a small rise in first-half profit on Wednesday, held back by rising raw material costs at home and its underperforming Nigerian unit. Tiger Brands, which makes cereal, energy drinks and rice, said diluted headline earnings per share (EPS) rose 6 percent to 848.7 cents in the … Read more
Taste Holdings has released its full year results for the year ended 28 February 2014. Taste currently holds a market cap of R780 million, with a PE ratio of 26.21 and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The share price dropped significantly on news yesterday that the group had received a legal challenge on the validity … Read more
Earlier this year I was asked by the World Economic Forum to participate in the judging of nominations for the 2014 class of its prestigious Global Growth Companies. I’m not sure how many judges participated, but what I do know is this is no tick-box process. The announcement was made at the WEF’s Africa Forum … Read more
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, May 20 (Reuters) – European Union antitrust regulators charged Europe’s biggest bank HSBC, U.S. peer JPMorgan and France’s Credit Agricole on Tuesday with rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro, exposing them to potential fines. The European Commission also said it would charge broker ICAP soon for suspected manipulation of the yen Libor financial benchmark. U.S. and … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Shares in Taste Holdings fell more than 3 percent on Tuesday after the restaurant group said it had received a legal challenge against the validity of its recently secured rights to set up Domino’s Pizza stores. Taste Holdings has signed an exclusive 30-year agreement to develop the Domino’s Pizza brand in seven southern African countries, … Read more
May 20 (Reuters) – New York Times Co Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said he tried to part ways peacefully with the top leader of the newsroom, Jill Abramson, whom he ousted last week. “We originally drafted the whole thing to be very amicable,” Sulzberger said in an interview with Vanity Fair, his first since he … Read more
The African National Congress has chosen the premiers who will run the eight provinces the party won in the elections, deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte said on Tuesday. The premiers are: Gauteng, David Makhura Eastern Cape, Phumulo Masualle Free State, Ace Magashule Mpumalanga, David Mabuza North West, Supra Mahumapelo Northern Cape, Sylvia Lucas Limpopo, Stan … Read more