Investec posts 11.8% rise in operating profit

Meridian Economics MD Dr Growé Steyn presented the results of CSIR-Meridian research which showed that the South African electricity consumer would be better off if the country closed three to five of Eskom’s old power stations and met those energy needs with renewables.

Anne Henschel, the managing director of Nordex Acciona Windpower South Africa, said: “Today we are preparing for further projects to be supplied with concrete towers coming from three different factories. The construction of these towers could potentially provide an investment of R750 million and generate employment for 470 people for three years. We need to consider an alternative to Reipppp. We have to be innovative. We should be thinking about embedded electricity generation solutions, small-scale wind farm solutions and hybrid solutions with storage capabilities.” INVESTEC said operating profit rose 11.8% in the six months to the end of September, supported by its wealth unit even after the Anglo-South African financial services group flagged political uncertainty in its main market.

The South Africa-focused bank, which has a listing in London and on the JSE, said yesterday its asset management and wealth arm benefited from higher funds under management helped by favourable equity markets and combined net inflows of £3.6 billion (R67.7bn).

The wealth and investment business, which contributed about 13.7% to their full-year 2017 profits, improved 14.7% to record a profit of £49.5 million in the first half.

Investec, which focuses mainly on private banking and asset management, reported operating profit of £314.6m in the six-month period, up from £281.4m a year ago.

The firm warned in September that business confidence was low and the political environment challenging in South Africa, even though its economy was coming out of recession.

Investec said it aimed at common equity tier 1 capital ratio above 10% and a total capital adequacy ratio range of 14% to 17% in its capital ratios – the percentage of a bank’s capital to risk-weighted assets.

Net interest income rose 16% to £364.4m, driven by a reduction in the Britain’s cost of lending, the company said in a statement.

Investec Plc’s shares fell 1.95% to close at R93.98 on the JSE yesterday. – Reuters