Inflation steadies, growth plummets
SOUTH Africa’s producer price inflation slowed to 3% year on year in April, from 3.1% in March, Stats SA said. On a month-on-month basis, prices at the factory gate increased by 0.9% after rising 1.8% in March.
FAST-FOOD group Famous Brands reported a 15% rise in earnings despite continued pressure on consumers in its home market. Headline earnings per share climbed to 467c from 405c a year before.
FINANCIAL services firm Alexander Forbes said it expected fullyear headline earnings per share to be 160%-170% higher after a capital restructuring and the sale of its insurance company Guardrisk.
FAILED unsecured lender African Bank, which collapsed in August, has offered R1.65-billion to junior creditors in a restructuring plan that may please those investors who had not expected to get anything back.
CLOTHES retailer Foschini Group posted a 10% rise in full-year profit, boosted by lowmargin cash sales as it tries to curb the impact of credit card defaults. Headline earnings per share rose to 898c from 819c a year earlier.
GDP grew by an annualised 1.3% quarter on quarter in the first three months of this year against growth of 4.1% in the previous quarter, Stats SA said. Economists had expected quarteron-quarter growth of 1.7%.
THE Reserve Bank’s leading business cycle indicator fell 0.2% month on month in March following a drop in the number of residential building plans passed and a decline in the dollar-based export commodity price index.
PACKAGING maker Nampak, which has operations in 12 African countries, posted an 8% fall in half-year earnings, largely due to its loss-making glass unit. Headline earnings a share from continuing operations fell to 101c.
SOUTH Africa fell one place to 53rd out of 61 countries in global business school IMD’s world competitiveness rankings. This was due to a deterioration in government and business efficiency. The US remained top.
THE retail price of petrol would rise by 3.6% from Wednesday, while wholesale diesel would go up by 4.4%, the Energy Department said. Petrol would cost R13.36 in Gauteng and diesel would be R11.67.