COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

SA's Woolworths posts jump in half-year profit

South African retailer Woolworths Holdings Ltd reported a 58.3% jump in half-year profit yesterday, its first in five years, as sales recovered from the lows at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The apparel sector, worst-hit among retail sectors in South Africa and Australia at the start of the pandemic, recovered slightly from May as lockdowns lifted and retailers gave discounts to attract shoppers.

But lower store footfall, particularly in large shopping centres and airport locations, significant drop in demand for formal wear and a return of restrictions in Australia has put clothing sales back on shaky ground.

Woolworths, which sells clothes, food and homeware across 14 countries in Africa, Australia and New Zealand, said headline earnings per share (HEPS) the main gauge of profit in South Africa surged to 261.1 cents in the 26 weeks to Dec. 27 from 164.9 cents a year earlier.

Earnings were also assisted by the renegotiation of leases for many stores under David Jones, its Australian upmarket department chain, which resulted in lease modification and cancellation gains of about 667 million rand (US$46.08 million), the retailer said. - Nampa/Reuters

Standard Chartered 2020 profit falls by 57%

Standard Chartered PLC (StanChart) yesterday posted a 57% fall in annual profit, missing analyst estimates, on higher credit impairments due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

StanChart, which earns the bulk of its revenue in Asia, posted a pre-tax profit of US$1.61 billion. That compared with US$3.71 billion in 2019 and the US$1.85 billion average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank.

The London-headquartered lender said it would return capital to investors via a 9 cents per share dividend and US$254 million buyback, with the total pay-out being the maximum permitted under temporary 'guardrails' set out by the Bank of England last year.

The central bank last year told Britain's largest lenders to suspend dividend payments and share buybacks for 2020 to help them maintain capital buffers against an expected hit to loan books from the pandemic.

Standard Chartered said that its overall income in 2021 is likely to be similar to 2020's because of the impact of global interest rate cuts. - Nampa/Reuters

Exxon Mobil's total reserves drops

Exxon Mobil Corp's global oil and gas reserves tumbled by a third last year as the Covid-19 pandemic slammed global oil prices and demand, the company said on Wednesday.

The largest US oil producer is reeling from the sharp decline in oil demand and a series of bad bets on projects when prices were much higher.

Exxon's reserves are at their lowest since the merger between Exxon and Mobil in 1999 and were "a result of very low prices during 2020 and the effects of reductions in capital expenditures," the company said in a filing.

Total reserves for all products fell to 15.2 billion barrels of oil and gas at the end of 2020 from 22.4 billion the year before, mostly driven by oil sands in Canada and US shale gas properties, according to the filing.

Exxon cut the value of its shale gas properties by over US$20 billion last year, most of them acquired in a 2010 merger with XTO Energy that had pushed its reserves up by about 2 billion barrels. - Nampa/Reuters

Jumia's losses narrow after cost cuts

African e-commerce giant Jumia said on Wednesday its cost cuts helped it reduce fourth quarter losses by 47% from a year ago as revenues continue to slide, showing that its path to profitability was on course.

Jumia, the first Africa-focused tech start-up to list on the New York Stock Exchange, is selling fewer expensive one-off products such as electronics and focusing on cheaper but frequently ordered items like beauty and cleaning supplies. It is also cutting fulfilment and advertising costs.

Revenue slid to 41.8 million euros in the fourth quarter, down from 49.3 million euros in the 2020 period. But Jumia reduced its adjusted loss in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to 28.3 million euros.

Co-founder Jeremy Hodara said this proved the company's strategy was paying off. "We grew where we wanted to, and very efficiently," Hodara said.

Jumia outlined long-term hopes of expanding into new markets, including Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, and said that payment platform JumiaPay and Jumia Logistics could be spun off. - Nampa/Reuters

Vodafone's towers arm to float in Frankfurt

Vantage Towers, the mobile masts company spun out of Vodafone Group, plans to float in Frankfurt by the end of March in a deal that could value it at up to 18 billion euros (US$22 billion), making it Europe's largest listing so far this year.

Duesseldorf, Germany-headquartered Vantage operates about 82 000 towers across 10 countries, where it is usually the leading or second largest supplier. Germany is its largest market, which is one of the reasons for the venue of the IPO.

Vodafone said on Wednesday it would sell a "meaningful minority" stake to create a liquid market in Vantage Towers' shares. No new shares will be on offer, meaning Vantage will not reap proceeds from the deal.

People familiar with the matter said stock worth about 3 billion euros would be sold, possibly giving the company a valuation of 15-18 billion euros.

That would make Vantage the largest European listing of the year in a busy season for new issues that has seen US$12 billion Polish firm InPost, US$10 billion German used-car trading platform AUTO1 and US$5 billion British boot brand Dr. Martens join stock markets. - Nampa/Reuters