Star 2023-10-27

CONSUMERS should brace for higher prices on the shelves this festive season as the producer price inflation (PPI) quickened further to a four-month high in September and above market forecasts. The PPI is a good pre-indicator of consumer inflation, because it measures the costs to produce consumer goods, and when producers are faced with input inflation, those rising costs are passed along to the retailers and eventually to the consumer. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that the annual headline PPI accelerated for a second consecutive month, rising to 5.1% in September, from 4.3% in August and 2.7% in July. StatsSA said the main contributors to the headline PPI annual inflation rate were food products, beverages and tobacco products; metals, machinery, equipment and computing equipment; paper and printed…

Board chairperson Andile Sangqu outlines plans to rationalise its loss-making activities ROILED by executive resignations, tender scams and a R130 billion debt, South African rail and port company Transnet is knocking on the doors of the South African Treasury for a bailout as its board chairperson, Andile Sangqu, outlines plans to rationalise loss-making activities, dispose of non-core assets and rope in private players in a turnaround bid. Sangqu’s board has just clocked 100 days since its appointment in July, but the parastatal has been rocked by massive resignations of executives in the past few weeks. Resignations include: CEO Portia Derby, chief financial officer Nonkululeko Dlamini, Transnet Freight Rail CEO Sizakele Mzimela and Ali Motala, the head of Transnet’s coal line. This has left Hlengiwe Makhathini as the acting CFO,…

CLICKS’ share price surged 8% yesterday after it reported record market share gains and a hike in earnings. The shares closed 6.06% higher at R261.75 on the JSE yesterday, but have decreased by 20.21% in the past year. In its annual group results for the year ended August 31, 2023, the pharmaceutical retailer flagged that adjusted headline earnings increased by 11.5% to R2.5 billion, while retail sales grew by 12.2%. The board declared a 6.6% higher dividend of 679 cents. Clicks reported that retail turn- over, excluding Covid-19 vaccinations, increased by 12.2% as group turnover grew by 8.2% to R41.6bn. Group operating profit, adjusted for the insurance recoveries related to the 2021 civil unrest, increased by 9% to R3.6bn, while the group’s adjusted operating margin increased by 30…

THE AFRICAN Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) Forum taking place in South Africa next week will include trade unions for the first time, with more than 80 workers’ representatives to discuss matters that impact workers in trade and investment decisions. Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel yesterday confirmed that there would be a labour forum for the first time with trade unions from South Africa, the US and other countries from the African continent. Patel was briefing the media on the state of South Africa’s readiness to host the 20th Agoa Forum in Johannesburg, and how it was set to deepen the trade corridors between South Africa, Africa and the US. To date, 360 delegates from the US business sector, including the US Chamber of Commerce, together with…

IN METROFILE Holdings’ annual 2023 report, its management team celebrated achieving a significant milestone, with turnover in excess of R1 billion for the first time, and has grown its digital footprint to include Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. Metrofile provides records and information management services in South Africa (its main market), Kenya, Botswana, Mozambique and the Middle East. Phumzile Langeni, Metrofile’s chairperson, said increasingly many organisations had devoted more resources to expand their digital and technological capabilities and had invested in the digitising of their data to ensure economic viability and to remain sustainably competitive. “Metrofile is well positioned as a leader in the provision of digital solutions for data preservation, cloud services, disaster recovery and cybersecurity to its growing customer base,” she said. The introduction of cloud services,…

AFRIMAT, the construction materials, bulk commodities and industrial minerals group, lifted headline earnings per share (Heps) by 4.4% to 263.4 cents in the six months to August 31 in a period of substantial investment towards the future of the company. Group revenue increased 9.6% to R2.8 billion. An interim dividend of 40c a share was declared. Net cash from operating activities came to R577.5 million. Deputy chief financial officer André Smith said they had expected slightly higher growth in Heps, but they had hoped that the Nkomati mine would have made a bigger contribution to earnings at this stage, as its commissioning was taking longer than expected. However, investment into the anthracite mine by opening the underground shaft, the first underground shaft for the group, in addition…