Trading Day – African Rainbow Capital grows its investment portfolio 

African Rainbow Capital grows its investment portfolio by 11% to R13.7 billion. 

Attacq resumes dividends after reporting a healthy recovery in earnings.

Here is the biggest news of the day.

• African Rainbow Capital grows its investment portfolio by 11%. The intrinsic portfolio value increased to R13.7 billion from R12.3 billion last year. The increase comprises an R1.8 billion fair value gain and net investment disposals of R450 million. The company grew its cash position from R240 million to R670 million. Debt in the fund also increased 12% to just under R1 billion. During the year, the company disposed of 12.4 million shares in Afrimat for R740 million. This decreased ARC’s stake in Afrimat from 16% to 7%. They have an effective interest of 25% in TymeBank. ARC acquired R322 million worth of additional Alexforbes shares at an average price of R4.59. ARC holds a 41.5% stake in the company.
• Attacq resumes dividends after reporting a healthy recovery in earnings. The company increased revenue for the year by 5.5% to R2.5 billion. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) grew by 8.3% to R1.32. Net asset value (NAV) per share grew 11% to R17.49, despite total assets declining 4.3% to R21.6 billion. The company reported that its Waterfall City developments of R997.6 million, totalling 47 623m2 of GLA, have been completed. Attacq resumed its dividend with R0.50 declared for the year.
• Metrofile earnings remain relatively flat. Revenue increased 5% to just under R1 billion, while earnings per share (EPS) decreased 3% to R0.31. The company declared a final dividend of R0.09 per share and authorised a share buy-back program for the first time since 2018.
• Choppies Enterprises expects a huge increase in earnings. The company released a trading statement for its upcoming full-year results. Choppies expects earnings per share (EPS) to increase around 107% to roughly 10.8 thebe (Botswana Pula cents).
• The US CPI report is due this afternoon and forms the last critical data piece ahead of the Fed’s next meeting. The report will be released at 14:30 SA time. Economists expect headline inflation to decline 0.1% month over month due to energy and food prices moderating. This would bring the yearly headline inflation to 8%, down from 8.5% last month. However, core CPI, which excludes food and gas prices, is expected to rise 0.3% month over month as it did in July. That would bring the yearly number to 6%, even higher than last month’s 5.9%. The Fed usually uses core inflation to guide policy decisions since it is less volatile.