Business News Leaders Business Day TV

Easing its lending criteria has helped African Bank more than double its interim profit after tax. The lender has reported an 11% increase in gross loans and advancements, and its credit loss ratio has declined to 4.6% from 6.1%. Business Day TV spoke to CEO Kennedy Bungane for his take on the performance.

South Africa’s local unit has been holding strong, after S&P Global upgraded the country’s outlook from neutral to positive. Business Day TV caught up with RMB’s Head of FX Execution, Matete Thulare for a look at moves playing out in the currency scene.

Post Covid the local auto industry seems to be revving up again with a few misfires here and there as OEMs still have to contend with supply chain issues, floods and intermittent power. While consumers are being faced with some tough choices on whether to trade in that diesel guzzling SUV for something more thrifty as the fuel price smashes record after record.
Sales of electric cars (including fully electric and plug-in hybrids) doubled in 2021 to a new record of 6.6 million, with more now sold each week than in the whole of 2012, according to the latest edition of the annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook. Although electric vehicle (EV) sales remained low across Africa, they increased by 90%, of which BEVs (battery electric vehicles) accounted for 85%.

To look under the hood of the local auto industry lets welcome Mike Mabasa, Chief Executive Officer at National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa, NAAMSA; Mark Dommisse, National Chairperson, the National Automobile Dealers’ Association, Managing Director and Shareholder North Motor Group and Dealer Council Chairman, Honda Dealer Network & Gaylor Montmasson-Clair, a Senior Economist at Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies

Barloworld has delivered a strong interim performance. The diversified industrial group’s headline earnings per share more than doubled to 756c during the period, and it’s declared a dividend of 165c from its income reserves, thanks to the bounce-back in car rental services in South Africa and strong demand for equipment from Russia. Business Day TV spoke to CEO Dominic Sewela for his take on the results.

Netcare has declared its first interim dividend in two years, following a solid half-year performance. South Africa's third-biggest private hospital by value, posted a 2.3% rise in group revenue, while profit for the period rose by 19.5% to R448 million. Business Day TV spoke to CEO Richard Friedland for more detail.

Consumer shopping habits are normalising as new waves of the pandemic prove to be less severe, and this has helped boost Dis-Chem’s performance. The pharmacy retailer produced a record revenue of over R30 billion while headline earnings per share grew by 27.6%, allowing the group to hike its total dividend by a similar margin. Business Day TV unpacked the performance with CFO Rui Morais..