Thursday promises to be a busy day, with a deluge of JSE results
Thursday is a busy day for JSE watchers, with results expected from Investec, Sappi, Mediclinic and Oceana.
It is also a relatively busy day on the economics front, with Stats SA scheduled to release three more pieces to the third-quarter GDP puzzle.
Stats SA will release September’s wholesale figures at 10am, motor trade sales at 11.30am and building statistics at 1pm.
Investec is scheduled to release its interim results for the six months to end-September.
The banking group said in a pre-close briefing statement in September that revenue was expected to be “moderately ahead of the prior period” while “costs are expected to be higher than the prior period largely driven by growth in headcount to support both activity levels and increased regulatory requirements”.
Investec also announced in September that it plans to separate its asset management division into an independently listed company.
Mediclinic, which operates private hospitals in Southern Africa, Switzerland, the Middle East and the UK, warned shareholders on October 17 that its adjusted earnings for the six months to end-September would fall to 10p from 11.3p.
Its Southern African profits suffered in the September quarter “from fewer pneumonia and bronchitis related cases during the winter”, the trading statement said.
Paper and packaging group Sappi said on its website that it will release its 2018 financial year results on Thursday, but has not issued a trading statement as would be required if earnings differed by more than 20%.
Fishing group Oceana said on October 19 that its headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year to end-September grew by up to 90%.
The JSE received mixed signals from Asian markets on Thursday morning.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.42%, boosted by Tencent gaining 3.75% to HK$282.40. Tencent’s largest shareholder, Naspers, rose 4.25% to R2,710.41 on Wednesday after the Chinese internet company reported better-than-expected September quarter results.
In Sydney, the JSE top 40’s second-largest constituent, BHP, was down 0.87% to A$31.83, dragging the ASX 200 index down 0.36%.
The rand was trading at R14.33/$, R16.24/€, and R18.63/£ at 6.50am.
Source: businesslive.co.za
