Star 2021-07-21

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats), the Anglo American plc subsidiary, expects headline earnings to soar by as much as 578 percent in the six months to the end of June amid buoyant metal prices and a boost in sales volumes. Amplats, which operates several assets, including the Mogalakwena open pit mine in Limpopo, said yesterday that headline earnings would likely climb to R46.8 billion. Basic earnings a share would likely be up by 600 percent, while earnings a share may be up to R17.7, Amplats said. “The expected increase in headline earnings and basic earnings is primarily driven by a 29 percent increase in the rand basket price and an increase in sales volumes from own production excluding trading activities,” said Amplats. Highlights for the…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za MORE than 300 Shoprite Holdings and Pick n Pay stores were hit by looters and burnt in last week’s civil unrest and riots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the companies said yesterday in separate statements. Shoprite and Pick n Pay are the latest retailers to tally the damage to their stores after Woolworths, Spar, Mr Price, Massmart, The Foschini Group and Pepkor announced that several of their outlets and distribution centres had been badly damaged. Shoprite, Africa’s retail giant, said of the 1 189 supermarkets trading under the Shoprite, Usave, Checkers and Checkers Hyper brands, 119 stores – including 64 Shoprite, 44 Usave, six Checkers and one Checkers Hyper – had been severely affected as a result of looting and fire damage. Out of the 537-store…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za The GOVERNMENT will soon announce a social and economic relief package to aid businesses and employees affected by the recent civil unrest to get back on their feet. This was a promise made by Presi- dent Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday in a meeting with about 90 captains of industry that had been impacted by last week’s unrest, largely in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The recent unrest is estimated to have impacted 40 000 formal businesses and 55 000 informal traders in KZN alone, with 160 000 people at risk of joining the unemployed queues. Ramaphosa said the government had been working with social partners to finalise an extensive social and economic relief package that would support poor households and provide assistance to affected businesses and employees.…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE economy remains at risk of a sharp contraction this year on the loss of activity as the recent civil unrest could undo the turning points in business cycles that ticked up in May. The SA Reserve Bank (SARB) said yesterday that the composite leading business cycle indicator rose by 2.3 percent in May, easing from April’s eight-month high of 3.7 percent. The easing of the leading indicator in May was mainly on fears of another stricter lockdown due to the third wave of Covid-19 infections driven by the Delta variant. However, the SARB said the increases in seven of the 10 available component time series of the indicator outweighed decreases in the remaining three. The largest contributors to the print were increases in the…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za PRETORIA-headquartered Kumba Iron Ore yesterday flagged rip-roaring earnings for the half-year ended June, but lowered its 2021 sales guidance by 1 million tons due to rail constraints and poor weather during the first half of the year. Kumba, an Anglo American plc subsidiary, said in its trading statement for the six months ended June 2021 that subject to Covid-19, unrest, rail and weather disruptions, it had revised its sales forecast to between 30 million tons and 40 million tons from a previous estimate of between 40 and 41 million tons. Kumba said export sales were up 5 percent to 19.4 million tons in the six months ended June 2021 compared to 18.6 million tons a year earlier and were 12…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za KAROOOOO, the New York- and JSE-listed group that owns 100 percent of Cartrack Holdings, continued to report strong subscriber and subscription revenue growth in the three months to May 31, despite ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, chief executive Zak Calisto said yesterday. “Our 2022 financial year commenced on a solid note. New customer additions across a broad base of industries are at historical highs, demonstrating our ability to innovate and to provide a differentiated fleet management platform,” he said. The company operates in a growing and under-penetrated global automotive market, coupled with a growing vehicle parc (or vehicle population) and customers seek digitalised software solutions to address higher operating costs, unproductive use of resources and inefficient workflows. “We believe Karooooo remains well positioned for growth,” Calisto said. He…