Factories tread water but sentiment ticks up

BUSINESS confidence recovered in October after slumping to its lowest level in three decades the previous month, boosted by a jump in export volumes and a firmer currency. The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s index rose to 93 from 90.3 in September. SOUTH Africa’s chances of avoiding a credit rating downgrade would be boosted by recent wage agreements between mine workers and the platinum sector’s largest producers, ratings firm Moody’s said. THE agriculture ministry said the Treasury had provided R212-million in drought relief for animal feed to be allocated in the last three months of this year to help livestock farmers hard hit by a devastating drought. PULP and paper maker Sappi’s fullyear profit increased 91% due to seasonally stronger sales volumes and higher dissolving wood pulp prices, it said. Net profit increased to $319-million from $167-million the previous year. MANUFACTURING output was flat year on year in September after expanding 2.2% in August, Stats SA data showed. On a month-on-month basis, factory production was up 1.5% but edged down 1.3% in the three months to September compared with the previous three months. RETAILER Lewis said its six-month profit dropped 39.6%, hit by the challenging economy and new creditapproval regulations affecting consumer spending. Headline earnings per share fell from 322.6c to 194.8c, it said. ARCELORMITTAL SA reported a 19.1% drop in steel sales for the third quarter as its business was hit by weak demand and cheap imports. It posted production of 1.12 million tons, a drop of 5.7% from the period a year before. NAMPAK said it expected full-year headline earnings a share to fall by up to half, hit by abnormal items such as foreign-exchange losses. Excluding abnormal items, profit was expected to be 2%-7% higher than that of the previous year.