Star 2022-11-23

Group plans to launch its own banking business in the second half of 2024 OLD MUTUAL, the life assurance and financial services group, plans to launch its own banking business in the second half of 2024. It has received Section 13 approval from the Prudential Authority to proceed with the application for a banking licence. “We are working on our application under Section 16 of the Banks Act for the registration of the bank,” the group’s directors said in a trading update yesterday. Old Mutual plans to spend R1.75 billion to complete the build of the transactional capability for the bank. “In line with the business case, we have incurred costs of R830 million for the current period, and approximately 10% of these costs were capitalised. The entity…

JSE-LISTED Pepkor grew its annual earnings in spite of challenging operating conditions in the reporting period as it faced social unrest, “unprecedented” load shedding and KwaZulu- Natal (KZN) floods. In its results for the year ended September 30, 2022, released yesterday, the group, which owns household brands including PEP, Ackermans, Tekkie Town and The Building Company, said revenue grew 5.3% to R81.4 billion. Pepkor, which is majority owned by Steinhoff Holdings, said headline earnings rose by 20.1% to 162.6 cents per share, while operating profit grew by 11% to R10.3bn. Pepkor chief executive Pieter Erasmus said Pepkor achieved strong earnings growth for the year ended September 30, 2022, on the back of good operational execution and disciplined cost control. “We are pleased to announce that Pepkor over the…

THE PASSENGER Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) yesterday implored MPs in the transport portfolio committee to lobby the National Treasury to let it off the hook for an outstanding R1.8 billion debt it owes to Transnet. Acting group chief executive Hishaam Emeran said: “The initial amount was R2.3bn, but we have settled some of it through an off-set agreement from what Transnet had to pay us. “This money is required as a matter of urgency. We have made submissions through the Department of Transport to the National Treasury. We are awaiting feedback.“ Emeran told the committee, which was chaired by Lisa Mangcu, that Prasa ran 90% of its routes on Transnet tracks and was hard put to afford the access and service fees levied by its counterpart. Prasa,…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned that the challenging global outlook – with a recession forecast next year – has worsened domestic growth prospects for South Africa. In its latest Economic Outlook released yesterday, the OECD said the global economy was expected to slow further in the coming year as the massive and historic energy shock triggered by the Russia/Ukraine war continues to spur inflationary pressures. The slowdown in global activity will hamper the demand for South Africa’s commodities, impacting negatively on the country’s current account. Due to these global headwinds and others, the OECD lowered South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) slightly, saying the economy was now projected to grow by 1.7% in 2022, 1.1% in 2023, and 1.6% in 2024. This is lower than…

ECONOMIC growth in the third quarter is expected to remain subdued in South Africa, narrowly escaping a technical recession, in spite of business activity rebounding the most in 16 months. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said yesterday that the composite leading business cycle indicator rose by 1.4% month-over-month in September, rebounding from a 2.3% fall in August. This was the first increase in the leading business index in three months, and the most since May 2021, as five of the nine available component time series increased while the remaining four decreased. The SARB said the largest positive contributors were an acceleration in the six-month smoothed growth rate of job advertisement space and an increase in the number of residential building plans approved. The largest negative contributors were a deceleration…

OMNIA Holdings reported a robust 32% increase in headline earnings per share for the six months to September 30 after its supply chain optimisation programme and integrated manufacturing capabilities supported the chemicals group through tough market conditions globally. Chief executive Seelan Gobalsamy said it was an “exceptional financial performance” that had seen strong performances from all their main businesses in the face of ongoing international geopolitical conflict and supply chain challenges, deteriorating utility infrastructure, socio-political instability and disruptions to electricity supply in South Africa. He said in an online interview their business model enabled Omnia to maintain its competitive position, and be agile and responsive in delivering to their Agriculture, Mining and Manufacturing customers. He said they made progress on ESG objectives with the commissioning of a reverse osmosis plant…