Earnings |

Nigeria fine to push South Africa’s MTN to 2016 loss, shares fall

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa-based MTN Group expects to report a full-year loss due to a $1 billion regulatory fine in Nigeria and underperformance there and at home, it said on Wednesday, sending its shares to a two-month low. Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy Nigeria is MTN’s most lucrative but increasingly problematic market, hobbling its growth outlook. But the appointment of banker Rob Shuter, who starts next month, as chief…

Liberty Drops Most Since 2009 as Profit Falls More Than Expected

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Liberty Holdings Ltd. slumped the most since April 2009 after the South African insurer said full-year profit tumbled more than analysts expected. The stock slid almost 12 percent to 109.90 rand as of 3:05 p.m. on Friday in Johannesburg, the biggest decline of 162 securities on the FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index. Volumes traded in Liberty soared, reaching 2.7 times the daily average over the past three months. Earnings per share for…

Sasol First-Half Profit Drops After Strike, Currency Losses

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sasol Limited said first-half profit declined as much as 44 percent from a year earlier after the world’s biggest producer of liquid fuels from coal was hurt by currency losses and a three-month strike at its South African operations. Profit before one-time items, known as headline earnings, for the six months through December decreased by between 8.26 rand ($0.62) and 10.68 rand from the 24.28 rand reported a year earlier,…

Lonmin Drops Most in a Year as Output Falls at Biggest Shaft

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Lonmin Plc, the world’s third-largest platinum miner, plunged the most in more than 12 months after stoppages at its biggest shaft caused output to slide. Lonmin dropped as much as 19 percent in London on Thursday, the largest intraday decline since Dec. 18, 2015, and traded at 143.5 pence as of 1:32 p.m. local time. It was the worst performer on the FTSE SmallCap Index. Fiscal first-quarter ore production at…

Guinness Nigeria Posts Biggest Loss in 30 Years on High Cost

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Guinness Nigeria Plc, the country’s second-biggest brewer, posted its biggest loss in at least 30 years as production and financing costs rose in Africa’s most populous nation. The local unit of London-based Diageo Plc posted a loss of 4.67 billion naira ($14.8 million) for the six months through December compared with a profit of 1.17 billion naira ($4.71 million) a year earlier. Cost of sales rose by more than 50 percent while financing costs…

Guaranty Trust Bank First-Half Profit Jumps 45% on Currency Gain

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Nigeria’s largest lender by market value, said first-half profit rose 45 percent as foreign-currency gains in the wake of the naira’s devaluation compensated for a surge in bad-loan charges. Net income climbed to 77.5 billion naira ($237 million) from 53.4 billion naira year ago, Lagos-based Guaranty said in a statement on Wednesday. The lender made foreign-exchange revaluation gains of 61.2 billion naira, compared with 6.9 billion…