Trading Day – Truworths reports huge increase in earnings 

Truworths reported a huge 65.4% increase in earnings per share (EPS), and Huge Group CFO and director Samantha Sequeira resigned. 

Here is the biggest news of the day.

• Truworths reported a huge increase in earnings. Revenue for the year was up 9.1% to R17.9 billion, while gross margin improved even further to 53.5%. The result was earnings per share (EPS) of R7.94, up 65.4%. The company bought back shares to the value of R1.6 billion during the year. The company declared a final dividend of R2.05 per share, bringing the total dividends for the year to R5.05, an increase of 44%.
• Huge Group CFO and director Samantha Sequeira resigns from 1 September. Sequeira served in the role for the past three years. Peter Boyce, the Financial Manager at Huge Management, will take over as interim CFO.
• Sanlam expects a big increase in earnings. The company released a trading statement indicating an expected increase in earnings per share (EPS) of around 52% to approximately R2.70. This was fuelled largely by a lower amount of death claims.
• South African new vehicle sales continue to grow at a healthy rate. Total new vehicle sales in August were 47 420, an increase of 14.2% from the same month last year. 86.2% of these vehicles were sold through dealers; the rental industry accounted for 8.3%, corporate fleets for 4.3%, and the government for 1.2%.
• Sibanye executives are buying up shares in the company. CEO Neal Froneman bought 30 000 American listed ADR shares to the value of $285 000 (R4.9 million), while Chief Organisational Growth Officer, JD Mostert, bought 108 500 ordinary shares to the value of R4.46 million. A list of other executives also bought smaller amounts.
• Australia lifts permanent immigration by 35 000 amid labour shortages, while almost a million migrants are stuck in the doorway. The Australian government will increase its immigration intake by 35 000, already taking effect in the current fiscal year. This brings the total permanent immigration allocation to 195 000 for June 2023. However, the immigration department currently has a backlog of over 914 000 unprocessed permanent and temporary visa applications. The recently elected prime minister, Anthony Albanese, blamed the backlogs on the previous administration not valuing immigration and prioritized processing the backlogs by supporting their home affairs department with 500 additional workers and increasing funding by AU $36.1 million.