South Africa

Trading Day – Big increase in Pick n Pay earnings

• 18 October 2022

Pick n Pay reported a huge increase in earnings, with headline earnings per share (HEPS) for its half-year results increasing 59.5% to R0.98.

Meanwhile, Ninety One assets under management (AUM) fall amid stock market downturn.

In other news, the Transnet strike ends after three-year wage deal is signed with Untu. 

US and Asian markets opened the week in the green, as the S&P 500 closed 2.7% higher and the Nasdaq jumped 3.4%. The Nikkei 225 and Hang Seng are both up 1.5% in early morning trade.

Here is the biggest news of the day.

  • Pick n Pay reports a huge increase in earnings. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) for its half-year results increased 59.5% to R0.98. Revenue showed strong growth, increasing 11.5% to R51.3 billion, while gross margins improved from 18.2% to 19.4%. The strong revenue growth is partly attributed to recovery from Covid restrictions and the July civil unrest. However, the company expects that turnover will grow by an encouraging 8.2% on a normalized basis. It was the first trading period under the company’s Ekuseni strategic plan. The implementation thereof and increased inflationary pressures also led to increased costs. Trading expenses grew by 10.6% to R9.8 billion. The company declared an interim dividend of R0.45 per share, 25% higher than the previous interim dividend.
  • Ninety One assets under management (AUM) fall amid the stock market downturn. The company announced that its AUM for the quarter ended September 2022 was £132.3 billion, down from £134.9 billion in the previous quarter and £140.0 billion a year ago. Ninety One’s interim results are due on 15 November.
  • Transnet strike ended after a three-year wage deal is signed with Untu (United National Transport Union). The deal includes raises between 5.5% and 6% for workers over the next 3 years, 6 months worth of back pay, as well as an increase in the medical aid subsidy and housing allowance. The deal also covers Satawu, who rejected the deal and said they would continue striking. Untu accounts for 54% of bargaining unit employees.
  • Microsoft confirms additional job cuts as it expects the slowest revenue growth in more than five years. The move comes three months after Microsoft announced that it had trimmed just under 1% of its employees. The company is due to release earnings on 25 October.
  • Eskom has gone back to stage 4 load-shedding in a sudden move early this morning due to breakdowns of five generating units at different power stations.

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