Latest news and views in Brief
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s retail sales grew by a lower-than-expected 1 percent year-on-year in March compared with a revised 2.3 percent in February, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. Economists had expected retail sales to rise 2 percent. On a month-on-month basis, sales fell 1.4 percent in March, but were up 3.2 percent in the quarter to … Read more
From SENS Altron has released its finalised 28 February 2014 year end financial results. During the year, Altron achieved good revenue growth of 12% to R27.8 billion, as well as a very pleasing 49% increase in normalised headline earnings per share (normalised HEPS) to 206 cents. The share price is trading down on the day (12h30), … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Business confidence in South Africa dipped to 92.6 in April from 92.7 in March, with an improvement sentiment likely to be reliant on policies applied by the newly elected government, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) said. “The business climate and business response are to a large degree dependent on the rapid implementation … Read more
Old Mutual plc has announced the appointment of Ingrid Johnson (Click Here for Alec’s interview with Ingrid) as Group Finance Director with effect from 1 July 2014. She will succeed Philip Broadley who will remain an Executive Director to ensure an effective transition until 31st August 2014. Ingrid Johnson is currently the Group Managing Executive: Retail … Read more
Astrapak, down 3.45% on the year, with a market cap of R946m, is trading flat on the day (10h45). The plastic packaging group that is midway through a major restructure, recorded a net loss for the year ended February 28, 2014 largely due to substantial exceptional and non-recurring items. However management reported good progress with … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) –Â South Africa’s third-biggest mobile operator Cell C said it plans capital expenditure of 2.3 billion rand ($221.62 million) in 2014 to support an expanding subscriber base. Users increased to 16.6 million at the end of April, a 22 percent rise from the end of 2013, it said in a statement. The company, majority … Read more
JOHANNESBURG, May 13 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Nedbank reported an 8.7 percent jump in net interest income in the first quarter after a lending push grew total advances by nearly 15 percent. South Africa’s fourth-largest bank by market value said net interest income – the difference between interest received on loans and paid out on deposits – was … Read more
The University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) has again taken the top ranking spot among South African and African business schools in the annual UK Financial Times Executive Education rankings announced today. The Financial Times survey presents a global benchmark for providers of executive education and GIBS has now been ranked among … Read more
From SENS Tsogo Sun, with a market cap of R33.12bn, is trading up on the day gaining nearly 2% on the market (11h30). Tsogo Sun has announced that on 12 May 2014, Tsogo Sun International Limited (Sun International), Grand Parade Investments Limited (GPI), and various of Sun International and GPI’s subsidiaries entered into transaction agreements in terms of … Read more
From SENS Life Healthcare has released its interim results, and announced trading expectations of earning improvements of more than 20%Â for its year end in September 2014. Life Healthcare has a market cap of R43.8bn and is trading nearly 1% down on the day (11h00). Highlights: Revenue increased by 10.2% to R6 211 million Operating … Read more