Star 2023-02-22

THE SOUTH African currency and stock market remained under pressure yesterday as investors continued to push up their forecasts for higher US interest rates while the ongoing power crisis has deteriorated the outlook for South Africa’s economy. The rand yesterday lost as much as 10 cents from the previous close, falling to R18.24 against the US dollar, close to its lowest since early November 2022. Investors are worried that the US Federal Reserve could have to stay on its hawkish path for longer after a string of economic data releases revealed a resilience in the US economy. The dollar is also likely to streng- then further as investors price-in the renewed hawkishness of the Federal Reserve as the likelihood of the central bank pausing on interest rate increases after…

The parastatal’s shoddy performance has led the company to lose R10 billion in achievable sales KUMBA Iron Ore yesterday, releasing its results for the year December 31, 2022, lowered its production outlook for the next three years due to State-owned Transnet’s shoddy performance, which led it to lose R10 billion in lost sales. Kumba said Transnet had a lack of freight trains to carry minerals to the port. Approximately R6.5bn of those sales were lost in the fourth quarter alone. And due to Transnet bottlenecks, Kumba said iron ore stockpiles increased to 7.8 million tons by December 31 from 6.1 million tons a year ago. Transnet’s poor logistics performance, including a worker strike during 2022, repressed the volume of ore railed to port by 9% to…

BUSINESS, workers unions and econo-mists have spoken in one voice that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana needs to provide a pro-poor Budget to alleviate the hardships that consumers have faced due to the rising cost of living in South Africa. This year, the Budget Speech will be delivered at a time when South Africans are already suffering from a skyrocketing cost of living and a persistent energy crisis that is essentially crippling economic growth potential. Standard Bank’s head of cards and payments, Ethel Nyembe, yesterday said many consumers were facing significant financial pressure and would be hoping for some sources of support and relief after enduring price increases across the board, as well as load shedding. “South Africans have been particularly hard hit by a challenging economic climate and higher cost-of-living,…

The SA Reserve Bank’s announcement that the repo rate would rise by 25 basis points is not the best news for consumers. But Nedbank’s head of Retail Investments, Sisandile Cikido, says a change like this is an opportunity for smart investors to diversify their investment portfolios. “An interest rate hike means that the loans you have (for example hire purchase agreements or mortgages) will be more expensive. But it also means that the interest banks pay on certain investments will be more. “And a higher interest rate cycle is the ideal opportunity to take out an investment that would lock in that rise over the medium to longer term, because in due course, interest rates will go down again,” says Cikido. She further explains that certain notice and term-investment accounts…

MOTUS Holdings’ solid financial position and strong cash flow generation would see it reduce debt, support investment in strategic initiatives and enable continued dividend flow, CEO Osman Arbee said yesterday. Two acquisitions were concluded in the six months to December 31 to extend international growth in aftermarket parts and to enhance the South African retail portfolio. He said in a telephone interview that the group has diversified to the extent that some 43% of its income is no longer related only to new and used vehicle sales. Also, by June 2023, some 25% of income will be derived from across South Africa’ borders. Group revenue increased by 14% to R51.22 billion in the interim period, while operating profit increased by 22% to R2.62bn. Headline earnings per share grew by…

SASOL’S share price slid 6% as the market digested a mixed set of half-year results to December 3, 2022, as its CEO Fleetwood Grobler detailed several challenges facing the firm, including a disrupted supply chain and higher feedstock and energy cost By 5pm the share price was 4.41% lower at R282. Earlier it fell to an intraday low of R276.20. Despite this, Sasol declared an interim cash dividend of R7 per share, compared to nil cents in 2021 and reported a 100% increase in its headline earning per share to R30.90, compared to R15.21 in the previous period. Grobler said: “We navigated several challenges during the period, including safety and operational stoppages at our mining operations, power supply interruptions which also impacted our suppliers and customers, weaker global economic growth,…