Feast of JSE results from Tiger and Famous Brands

Mediclinic said on April 18 it expected to report “broadly flat” adjusted earnings for the year to end-March.

Building materials miner Afrimat said on May 3 it expected to report on Thursday basic and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year to end-February grew by up to 11.4%.

Famous Brands said on May 17 it expected to report on Thursday its basic earnings for the year to end-February would be about a twentieth of the prior year’s R4.14 following the write-downs on its UK acquisition Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

Headline earnings per share (HEPS), which would not include these impairments, would fall by a less severe amount up to 24%, the trading statement said.

Poultry group Quantum Foods said on May 3 it expected to report on Thursday its HEPS for the six months to end-March increased nearly sevenfold.

After April’s inflation came in at a better-than-expected 4.5%, economists generally expect Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago no change to the central bank’s repo rate at 3pm.

Higher oil prices and a weaker rand have prompted banks to expect inflation to pick up in the coming months, but not enough to prompt the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) to raise interest rates in 2018.

Investec has raised its forecast inflation average for 2018 to 5.1%, rising to 5.5% in 2019.

“Substantial fuel price rises in the following months, on the back of the higher oil price and the weaker domestic currency will elevate the inflation outcome. Taking into effect these inflationary pressures, with risks to the upside, together with concerns over the faster pace of normalisation in US monetary policy, it is unlikely that the MPC will adjust the repo rate,” Hodes said in an e-mail on Wednesday.

Nedbank economist Johannes Khosa also said after Wednesday’s inflation data release that the MPC will probably leave policy rates unchanged for the rest of the year before embarking on a mild hiking cycle in the second half of 2019.

Source: businesslive.co.za