Pretoria News 2022-08-12

THE MARKETS continued to smile on companies’ stocks yesterday as the JSE moved higher above the 70 000-point level following further evidence that global inflation could be peaking. The JSE All Share Index followed its global counterparts and rose to its highest in 10 weeks, climbing 2.18 percent to 71 264 index points after slowing US inflation data curbed bets for aggressive Federal Reserve rates hikes. The market movement followed a softer-than-expected July consumer price inflation reading of 8.5 percent from 40-year highs of 9.1 percent in June, prompting speculation that the Fed might ease the rate hikes. Investors, however, continued weighing global economic risks and more corporate earnings. The JSE gains were led by telecommunications group MTN, which rose 9.3 percent to R159…

MTN’S SHARES surged by almost 9 percent yesterday after the tech giant reported a 47 percent increase in profit for the six months to end-June. The shares closed at R158.94 on the JSE yesterday, having increased by 26.53 in the past year. The group flagged headline earnings per share of 567 cents, a 46.5 percent increase, from 387c a year earlier. However, MTN failed to deliver an interim dividend for the reported period, but the board said it anticipated paying a minimum ordinary final dividend of 330c per share for 2022. MTN’s subscribers increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year to 281.6 million. Active Mobile Money (MoMo) customers rose by 24 percent year-on-year to 60.7 million. Group president and chief executive Ralph Mupita said:…

TRADE Union Solidarity claimed it had smoked the peace pipe with State arms manufacturer Denel and would suspend auction efforts to recover R318 million in outstanding worker salaries after the former committed to honouring its obligations. Denel said yesterday it would waive its rights in compliance with the partnership after Denel’s board and corporate executives yesterday pledged to resuscitate the entity that has a more than R12 billion order book to regain its feet. “We have had assets sold off to meet the obligations of our workers, but now close to R318 million in outstanding salaries have been paid, we are patient toward for the organisation to regain its feet,” said Morne Malan, Solidarity’s spokesperson. The State-owned company unpacked a comprehensive strategy for the stabilisation and restructuring…

Carrier has been given 90 days to come up with the required relevant documentation THE AVIATION industry could shrink even further if the national carrier’s operating licence is suspended by the Air Servicing License Council for material breaches, which could lead to the escalation of ticket prices as the remaining airlines compete for large passenger demand. The council has issued the South African Airways (SAA) with a notice to provide it with three relevant docu- ments within 90 days on the disposal of its majority stake to a private party, Takatso Consortium, failing which SAA’s operating licence could be suspended. This comes after SAA failed to notify the council of the transaction more than a year after it was initiated and announced by the Department of Public Enterprises. Business Report…

ITALTILE, global retailer of tiles and home sanitaryware, anticipates a small decline in turnover for the year to June 30 compared with the very high figure the year before that had been boosted by pandemic stay-at-home restrictions. The group said in a sales update yesterday that trading conditions remained challenging. Higher inflation caused input and other operating cost increases and pressure on manufacturing margins, while there had been a consumer shift away from home improvement to other recreation and discretionary purchases. “Lower customer footfall and a decline in demand was widespread across the industry,” the group said. Global supply chain disruptions caused instability in supply and pricing, although this eased towards the end of the year. There was intensified competition in the local market; consumer confidence had declined; there was…

CAPITAL & Regional, the UK-focused specialist property real estate investment trust with a portfolio of dominant in-town community shopping centres, managed to substantially reduce its loan-to-value to 40 percent in the six months to June 30, from an unsustainable 72 percent a year ago. Shareholders appeared heartened by the big debt reduction, return to profit and resumption of dividends with an interim dividend of 2.5 pence (R0.50) and the share price on the JSE surged 7.20 percent to close at R12.50 yesterday. Chief executive Lawrence Hutchings said they had an “exceptionally productive” six months in terms of driving a strong operational performance, and in building on the restructuring of The Mall debt facility and capital raise that was completed in November. The Blackburn sale above book…