Star 2022-11-17

PPC, SOUTHERN Africa’s biggest cement group that recently restructured to get back into the black, expects to slump back into a headline loss per share in the six months to September 30, a performance indicating deteriorating conditions in the construction industry. Cement & Concrete South Africa, an industry organisation, said the entire local cement and concrete industry is threatened by multiple challenges including economic decline, the crisis in construction including the prevalence of construction mafias, low investment confidence, little traction in infrastructure spending, cheap imports and environment-related issues. “Some 35 000 local jobs are on the line, together with billions of rand investments in the sector’s long value chain,” the organisation’schief executive, Bryan Perrie, said yesterday. In the ongoing negative impact of imported cement, Perrie said local cement production…

SPAR’S shares nosedived 15% after the grocery chain’s annual results missed market earnings estimates and as consumer spend remains under pressure. The shares traded at an intraday low of R140, but closed at R144.10 on the JSE yesterday. They have increased by 2.26% in the past six months. In its results for the year ended September 30, 2022, the grocer with a market value of R32 billion, posted a 3% drop in its headline earnings per share to 1 160.5 cents from 1 196.2c a year earlier. FNB said last week that the market consensus expected Spar Heps growth of 4.4% on an adjusted basis on revenue growth of 5.3%. Brett Botten, the chief executive of Spar, said the group had delivered a resilient performance…

It claims TFR engineers suspected that the train had been over-speeding THE ULUNDI Business Forum (UBF) has called out Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) for its accusations that the forum had made threats subsequent to the derailment of a coal train, with 97 trailers, near Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal over a week ago. TFR last week announced a force majeure after a train carrying coal to the Richards Bay port derailed last week, while pointing a finger at UBF for the incident. TFR said earlier this week it had enlisted the assistance of the Traffic Department, Flying Squad and South African Police Services to support the transportation of the heavy-duty equipment amid fears the mysterious UBF was sabotaging the infrastructure UBF chairperson Musa Ngqulunga in an interview yesterday denied the forum had…

CONSUMER spending in South Africa appears to be waning slightly ahead of the festive shopping season, as higher interest rates bite into disposable cash. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that retail trade sales unexpectedly fell by 0.6% in September compared to the same month a year ago. This followed an upwards revised 2.1% increase in August, also defying market forecasts of a 1% increase. StatsSA’s deputy director for distributive trade statistics, Raquel Floris, said sales fell primarily for food, beverages and tobacco; hardware, paint and glass; and pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries. “Hardware, paint and glass re- corded its fifth consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline, decreasing by 8% in September,” Floris said. “Retailers in food and beverages registered a similar result, decreasing by 8.1% in…

PREMIER Fishing and Brands’ headline earnings per share swung from a 3.39 cents loss to 5.65c profit in the year to August 31 after strong rock lobster, pelagic and hake results offset disappointing environment-related squid catch-rates. Revenue decreased 17% to R475 million, while gross profit fell by 20% to R153m. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation increased 11% to R48m. The Level 1-BEE fishing group, through its subsidiaries, harvests, processes, markets, sells and distributes of a variety of marine products, and owns and manages its factories, an abalone farm, has a range of organic fertilisers through its Seagro brand and operates more than 30 fishing vessels. The rev- enue decline was mainly due to the squid division, a statement from the group said. The squid sector saw…

After seeing the negative reviews he’s been receiving with the recent single he’s been teasing, Bana Ba Stout, Cassper Nyovest announced on Monday he was calling off all planned upcoming releases. Previously, the Move For Me star had promised to release new music every time he reached a million views, but those views have been hard to come by. “Bana ba Stout not dropping any more cause I respect the fans,” he tweeted. “We gonna drop in 24 months. Me, Ronaldo and Lebron are having a bad season. As the 3 goats we need a break. I thank you.” Nyovest has been having an inconsistent year when it comes to his musical releases. It all started with Put Your Hands Up featuring Mousse T, his first release of the year.…