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BUSINESS confidence in the economic recovery in South Africa ticked up slightly in June as the government started taking decisive action to deal with the energy crisis and implement wide-ranging structural reforms. This comes as the composite leading business cycle indicator, released by the SA Reserve Bank (SARB), rebounded in June. The SARB said yesterday that the composite leading business cycle indicator rose by 0.4 percent month-over-month in June following a 0.7 percent decline in May. The business cycle in April and May was affected by the floods in Kwa- Zulu-Natal along with the energy crisis, the impact of the Russian/Ukraine war, and economic lockdown in China. But these economic shocks eased in June, and the indicator saw increases in 5 of the 9 available component time series,…
SOUTH Africa’s major financial institutions risk having the country’s entire financial sector grey-listed internationally if they continue to rely on contract law and the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment – Bredenkamp and Others vs Standard Bank – to arbitrarily unbank clients without first involving law enforcement agencies. Instead of acting unilaterally against organisations and individuals accused of unlawful financial activity, banks should follow the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) rules. The Financial Intelligence Centre’s (FIC’s) executive manager for legal and policy, Pieter Smit, said earlier this year that it was unacceptable for banks to prematurely close bank accounts since that jeopardised the FIC’s ability to act. “This is, in fact, not a behaviour that the FIC encourages. We are very clear when we speak to the banks that we…
Sasol yesterday reinstated a dividend to shareholders, after putting it on ice for the past two years, as its annual earnings surged, boosted by high global commodity prices. In its financial results for the year ended June 30, 2022, the chemicals and energy group said shareholders would receive a R9.34 billion dividend, R14.70 per share, which is also the highest dividend per share the group has paid. Headline earnings per share increased by 20 percent to R47.58 per share compared to the prior year. Earnings before interest and tax of R61.4bn grew from R16.62bn in the prior year. Sasol said this was offset by lower volume performance, mainly due to the operational challenges experienced in the first half of the financial year. But it said the performance had…
Economists express concern that the recovery in the jobless rate may be a short-lived one THE RATE OF unemployment in South Africa surprised on the downside in the three months to June, but this has raised serious questions about the accuracy of data on the back of the expected economic slump in the period. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday said South Africa’s unemployment rate fell for the second quarter by 0.6 of a percentage point to 33.9 percent in the second quarter, down from 34.5 percent in the first quarter. This was despite the adverse effects of extensive load shedding and disruptions to manufacturing and logistics caused by severe flooding in KwaZulu-Natal. The decline in the rate of joblessness means that unemployment in the country eased further…
AVENG’s Australasia construction and engineering subsidiary has secured 91 percent of its budgeted work for financial 2023, while the group’s open-cut contract mining business Moolmans has secured 78 percent of its budgeted revenue for the period. “We are suitably equipped to continue on our path of sustainable, profitable growth,” chief executive Sean Flanagan said at the release of the annual results for the 2022 financial year, in an online presentation, yesterday. He said they had five key growth levers: an optimised balance sheet, the specialist capabilities of McConnell Dowell particularly in rail, marine and green energy, the group’s people and systems, the optimisation of fleet and equipment and the ESG framework. Talks to sell the non-core Trident Steel were under way and the proceeds would likely erase debt…
OMNIA Holdings, a JSE-listed diversified chemicals group, yesterday said that Global Credit Ratings (GCR) had affirmed its ratings, with the outlook upgraded from stable to positive. CGR maintained its long and short-term national scale issuer ratings at A(ZA) and A1(ZA), respectively. Omnia chief executive Seelan Gobalsamy said the rating affirmed Omnia’s continued strategy execution and value creation for stakeholders over the past three years. “As we stabilised and renewed the company, improvements in our financial position and operational resilience have lifted our credit profile and rating. We continue to closely manage our capital and liquidity, particularly in the current volatile economic and trading environment,” he said. According to Omnia, which is valued at R10.4 billion, the rating upgrade reflected GCR’s view that Omnia’s earnings profile will continue to…
