Trading Day – Capital Appreciation reports good growth

Capital Appreciation has reported strong revenue growth and promising future initiatives in its interim results.

Headline earnings per share (HEPS) grew by 4.4% to 7.8 cents, while international revenue and revenue from the software division grew substantially.

Elon Musk claimed that Apple threatened to remove the Twitter app and called out their 30% app store fee and censorship actions in a series of tweets yesterday.

US markets are down, with the S&P 500 closing 1.5% lower and the Nasdaq declining by 1.6%.

The Nikkei 225 is down 0.5% in early morning trade. The Hang Seng index showed a strong rebound, climbing 4.2%.

Here is the biggest news of the day.

• Capital Appreciation reported good growth and future initiatives. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the half-year period ended September grew by 4.4% to 7.8 cents. However, basic earnings per share (EPS) declined by 58% to 3.1 cents. This was largely impacted by expensing significant costs related to growth initiatives. Revenue grew 22.5%, driven largely by the software division, which grew its revenue by 75% to R220 million. International revenue also saw a big increase. The number of payment terminals in client hands grew 22% from last year to 315,000. The company declared an interim dividend of 4.25 cents per share.

• Elon Musk claimed Apple threatened to remove the Twitter app. In a series of tweets, Musk claimed that Apple had threatened to remove the Twitter app from the App Store as part of its app review moderation process. Apple’s App Store is the only way to distribute software to iPhones. The social network would lose one of its main distribution platforms if the Twitter app were pulled. In other tweets fired off on Monday morning, Musk called Apple’s App Store fees a “secret 30% tax,” and ran a poll asking if “Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.” He also claimed that Apple had pulled most of its advertising from Twitter.

• China’s Covid infections dropped for the first time in more than a week. The country said local infections, mostly asymptomatic, totalled 38,421, down from a record high of 40,052 reported for Sunday. The protests over the weekend seem to have died down, and there was no indication of new protests on Monday. Security has tightened in areas where protesters had gathered in Beijing and Shanghai.

• MTN Ghana required to ban certain customers. Under a directive from the Ghana National Communications Authority (NCA), from 1 December, MTN is required to fully ban all customers that have completed Stage 1 (linkage) of subscriber registration but have not completed Stage 2 (biometric capture).

• African Bank reported a big surge in profits. The bank’s annual net profit increased 38% to R736 million. The bank slightly improved its capital requirements, with the Total Group capital adequacy ratio increasing by 0.1% to 43.4%. Retail savings and investment customer deposits increased by 15% to R10.84 billion, while cash deposits and financial investments, including surplus liquid assets, showed a sharp 69% drop to R2.79 billion.