The Markets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa)  – Allegations of financial wrongdoing at Africa’s biggest fund manager created a fearful work environment, with employees being disgruntled, suspicious and unproductive, a former board member told an inquiry. Before the claims by an anonymous whistle-blower, South Africa’s Public Investment Corp., which has more than 2 trillion rand ($144 billion) in assets, had been a stable and productive organization with a unified board that could debate professionally at scheduled meetings, Dudu…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African platinum producers, the world’s biggest miners of the metal, have asked a court to block a planned strike by one of the country’s biggest mining unions that the companies say would further hurt the struggling industry. Anglo American Platinum Ltd., the world’s top platinum-group metals supplier, and other producers want the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union to be denied the legal right to start a seven-day strike at…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Hopes of a trade truce between China and the U.S. and a more dovish Federal Reserve are giving South Africa’s rand a boost — and President Cyril Ramaphosa some breathing space as he struggles to stabilize the state-owned electricity company while curbing government debt levels. Given the outlook for South Africa’s economy — sluggish growth, a widening fiscal deficit, and the threat of a credit-rating downgrade to junk — the rand shouldn’t be a…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe has no plans to intervene in the market for what’s effectively a new currency, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. “Anything that we do in terms of coming into the market is to manage the volatility, but not to intervene,” he told reporters Tuesday after a weekly cabinet meeting in the capital, Harare. “The government is staying out of the market because we are too big — if we…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gross earnings declined by 15.9% YoY to N620.0 billion, in line with our estimate of N632.8 billion (-2.0% deviation). In contrast, after tax profit improved by 11.3% YoY to N193.4 billion, in line with our N192.2 billion projection (+0.6% deviation). On a quarterly basis, gross and after tax earnings weakened by 4.6% QoQ and 21.1% QoQ to N145.4 billion and N49.2 billion respectively. ZENITHBANK declared a final dividend per…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s biggest banks have found a way of shielding earnings from another year of tepid credit demand — buying up local government bonds that offer among the highest yields in emerging markets. Lenders are reducing credit to companies and consumers hampered by challenges in an economy too dependent on oil — the prices of which have tumbled nearly 30 percent since October. Steep inflation, a lack of foreign exchange and high levels of…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt wants to tear down a strategy that’s left one of the Middle East’s most indebted countries hooked on short-term borrowing. The government is looking to raise the share of longer-dated debt to about 70 percent of annual domestic issuance by 2022 from 5 percent in the last fiscal year, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said in an interview. In making a “gradual shift” away from short-term T-bills and toward instruments such as Treasury…