Sanlam on a roll as vehicle sales drop

SANLAM, South Africa’s biggest insurer, reported a 23% jump in earnings for the first four months of the year after booking better new-business volumes and higher returns from investment services. STATE-owned power utility Eskom said its senior executives would not get annual bonuses this year as the company implemented cost-cutting measures to address a funding shortfall of R225-billion. RESERVE Bank governor Gill Marcus said, in issuing the June monetary policy review, she did not see the economy going into recession, despite a 0.6% fall in gross domestic product in the first quarter. THE AT Kearney foreign direct investment confidence index‚ conducted across 300 of the world’s leading multinational corporations‚ showed South Africa improved from 15th place in last year’s survey to 13th. ABOUT 5 500 sugar workers agreed to wage increases of as much as 10%, ending the first industrywide stoppage for 17 years. Workers were expected to return to work tomorrow, Fawu general secretary Katishi Masemola said. BUSINESS confidence plunged to 88.9 last month, falling 3.7 points to below 90 for the first time since April 2000 with businesses worried about weak growth, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. NEW vehicle sales fell 9.2% year on year last month to 49 465 units, figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed. Export sales fell 40.5% year on year to 15 613 units. THE Kagiso PMI, which indicates activity in the manufacturing sector‚ fell 3.1 index points to 44.3 last month — its lowest level since 2009 — as a result of weak business activity‚ demand and employment. THE Competition Tribunal said that it had fined petrochemical group Sasol altogether R534-million for charging domestic customers excessive prices for chemicals from 2004 to 2007. NET gold and forex reserves were slightly lower at $44.506billion last month from $44.857-billion in April, Reserve Bank figures showed. Gross reserves slid to $49.209billion from $49.555-billion.