Standard Bank lifts after flagging rise in earnings

JOHANNESBURG - Shares of South Africa’s (SA) largest bank by assets Standard Bank lifted on Wednesday, after it informed shareholders its headline earnings per share could rise by more than a third.

Headline earnings per share are expected to rise in a range of 30 per cent to 35 per cent, the bank said in a brief update, while in early trade, its shares had lifted 4.2 per cent.

The group said the strong momentum it referred to in November, supported its performance, while the impact of the sovereign debt challenges in Ghana were more than offset by strong performances across the rest of the group’s franchise.

In November, Standard Bank had reported robust average balance sheet growth, combined with positive endowment tailwinds from higher average interest rates, resulted in strong double-digit net interest income growth.

Growth

All three client segments recorded growth in average loans and advances year-on-year, it said then.

Non-interest revenue growth remained robust supported by growth in transactional activity, trading revenue and insurance earnings.

Transactional fee growth benefited from fee increases combined with a larger client base, while trading revenue growth was still double digit but slowed relative to the 21 per cent increase in the

first half of the year.

Standard Bank reported a 33 per cent climb in headline earnings for its halfyear to end June.

Freight services and banking group Grindrod has flagged a rise in headline earnings of at least a third for its year to end December, having recently reporting it was benefiting from strong commodity volumes, and upgrades at the Port of Maputo.

Headline earnings per share will increase by between 37 per cent and 43 per cent compared to 92.2 cents achieved in 2021, the group said in a brief update.

Grindrod, valued at about R7.6 billion on the JSE, had reported a 53 per cent climb in headline earnings for its core business for its half-year, and in May 2022 had announced the R1.5 billion sale of Grindrod Bank to African Bank.