Five things making headlines in South Africa today

Here’s what caught our attention on Friday:

1. Mr Price reports solid performance

Mr Price CEO Stuart Bird said the retailer produced a ‘solid performance’ for the year ended March 31 2018. Diluted headline earnings per share increased 21.1% to 1075.4 cents, revenue increased by 8.0% to R21.3 billion. An annual dividend per share increased by 3.9% and 693.1 cents, while the final dividend per share is at 414.1 cents, 5.6% lower than 2017. The company says the balance sheet is in a healthy position as free cash flow increased by 71.8% to R3.0 billion.

2. Renergen suffers massive loss

Renewable energy business Renergen produced dismal results for the year ended February 28 2018. The company is reporting a loss of R40.6 million, which is a significant climb in losses compared to 2017 (R18.7 million). Revenue is at R2 million, cost of sales fell to R3 million. The company is also reporting a basic loss per share of 47.10 cents, and a diluted loss per ordinary loss of 47.05 cents. The company however said it concluded South Africa’s first commercial Liquified Gas sales agreement with SA Breweries.

3. Life Healthcare improves 

Private hospital operator Life Healthcare said performance in Southern African operations improved in its interim results ending March 31 2018. Revenue increased by 17.5% to R11.3 billion, normalised Ebitda increased by 10.5% to R2.7 billion. Headline earnings per share increased 53.7 cents, up 116.5% and an interim dividend of 38 cents per share has been declared.

4. Tekkie Town – part two

The founder of shoe retailer Tekkie Town is in search of a new dawn. Braam van Huyssteen told Moneyweb that he may consider starting over with “Tekkie Town two”, if he is unable to win back Tekkie Town as he is now facing legal disputes with Steinhoff Africa Retail (Star) – renamed to Pepkor and parent company Steinhoff. Van Huyssteen says he has enough supplies, money and support to get the business going, if he really needs to.

5. Vehicle sales

The figures for vehicle sales for May will be released on Friday. In April total vehicle sales decreased to 36346 from 49233 in March, data from Trading Economics shows.

Update to follow.