South African shipping group Grindrod lifted first-half headline earnings 73 percent due to strong shipping markets and a weaker rand and said it expected the match the performance in the second half.
Basic headline earnings per share rose to 444.1 cents from 256.2 cents in the same period last year, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday. Grindrod had said it was expecting growth of up to 75 percent.
“I think full-year (headline earnings) will be around double the half year but in the next two to three years (growth will slow to) 15-20 percent and maybe better if the rand weakens,” Chief Executive Ivan Clark told Reuters in an interview.
Headline earnings exclude non-trading, capital and some exceptional items.
Grindrod shares closed 1.26 percent lower at 48.61 rand, lagging the mid-cap index which was 0.78 percent lower. Grindrod shares have gained 24.63 percent so far this year.
More: za.today.reuters.com
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Netcare's stock rose 3.41 percent to 6.98 rand, beating a 0.46 percent rise in the top-40 blue chips index. The share was the second-highest climber among blue chips.
Netcare said it expected 2005 headline earnings and headline earnings per share (EPS) to rise by 30-40 percent versus the year-ago period. Headline EPS excludes non-trading, capital and some extraordinary items.
The firm also said it had restated its half-year results to
South Africa's Astral Foods said on Monday it has bought back 4 percent of its shares since June, taking the total shares bought since its repurchase programme began to 3.95 million shares, or 9.1 percent of its ordinary shares.
The repurchase of 1.797 million Astral Foods ordinary shares began on June 2 and continued as market conditions allowed, the firm said in a statement. The average price per share paid was 68.61 rand.
Astral said it was given authority by shareholders in February to buy back up to 10 percent of shares.
The group said the buyback, which has been funded through
South Africa's number-two investment firm, VenFin, said on Tuesday its headline earnings per share for the year to June rose 25 percent to 189.8 cents.
VenFin's biggest investment is a 15 percent stake in Vodacom, South Africa's largest mobile phone operator, and independent free-to-air television station etv.
The group's net asset value, which is the book value of its assets less liabilities, was 43.72 rand at year-end, up 52 percent year on year.
This reflected mainly an increase in the value of Vodacom and the effect of a share repurchase programme, the company said.
VenFin acquired 13.7 million of its ordinary shares at an
Shares in South African investment firm Venfin jumped as much as 4.8 percent to a five-year high on Wednesday, after the firm reported higher annual earnings.
Venfin shares traded 3.6 percent higher at 33.61 rand by 1136 GMT, outperforming the top 40 index of blue chips which gained 0.2 percent.
"Venfin reported good, sound results, and the market is happy with that," Wilmar Buys, a trader at FFO Securities said.
He said the share price was likely to be capped at 34 on the high side because it appeared expensive compared to its peers.
Venfin's biggest investment is a 15 percent stake in Vodacom,
South Africa's RMB Holdings Ltd. boosted annual headline earnings per share by 30 percent and said on Wednesday it would pay a special dividend of 1.2 billion rand.
RMB Holdings, which owns around a third of FirstRand and derives most of its earnings from the banking group, said it would pay a total dividend for the year to end June of 94 cents per share, plus an extra 100 cents per share one-off payout.
FirstRand is South Africa's second-biggest banking group by assets.
RMB Holdings said it wanted to return cash from FirstRand's black economic empowerment deal to investors, although the payout
