Company news in brief

Richemont sees slight rise in jewellery salesRichemont posted a slight rise in sales in the first quarter as solid results from its jewellery brands offset declines from China and its luxury watchmakers. The Cartier owner reported a sales gain of 1% at constant currencies to €5.3 billion (R105 billion). That was in line with analyst forecasts and compares to double-digit gains a year ago. The company said jewellery sales — which also include the Van Cleef & Arpels brand — showed resilience, rising 4%. Richemont, which also owns Swiss watch brands including IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Piaget, is facing slowing demand for its pricey products, particularly in China, where consumers have turned cautious as the economy falters.Sales in Greater China plunged 27% during the quarter, the company said, while its watchmaking division posted an overall drop of 13%. Sales in all regions beyond Asia Pacific were higher, underscoring the acute weakness in China. Richemont report’s follows worse-than-expected financial results from Swiss watchmaking rival Swatch Group AG, which posted a 70% drop in profit it blamed on collapsing demand from China, and a profit warning from luxury giant Burberry Group Plc. - Fin24/BloombergMurray & Roberts clinches big contractConstruction and engineering group Murray & Roberts announced its cementation business in the Americas has been awarded a multi-year $200 million (R3.6 billion) contract. "This significant award reinforces Cementation Americas&#039; strong capability to deliver on large underground mine construction projects for top-tier clients," the group said in a statement."Cementation Americas has provided mine engineering and construction services to the Latin American market since 2003 and has successfully completed multiple large-scale complex mine construction scopes of work in this mining market." The group&#039;s shares have gained almost 60% in the year to date. - Fin24Sappi reaches mega dealPaper and packaging group Sappi announced it has reached a €50 million (about R1 billion) deal to sell its Lanaken mill in Belgium to Dutch industrial property group UTB Waalwijk. The group announced in November that it planned to reduce production capacity for graphic paper in Europe, initiating a consultation process that concluded at the end of December. Sappi Lanaken Mill was an integrated pulp and paper mill that employed 581 workers with a production capacity of 165 000 tonnes per annum of pulp used to produce 530 000 tonnes of coated woodfree paper, which was mainly sold into the European print market, it has said previously. Shares in Sappi have risen by almost 29% in the past year. - Fin24Bell Equipment in buyout offerBell Equipment, which makes and sells heavy machinery such as dump trucks and forklifts, announced its founding family has made a buyout offer that values the group at just over R5 billion. The R53 per share offer represents a 71% premium to the group&#039;s share price on Friday, with investment company IAB, which represents the interests of the founding Bell family, already holding just over 70%.Valued at about R3.25 billion on the JSE as of Monday&#039;s open, Bell was founded by Irvine Bell in 1954 as a small engineering and agricultural repair service in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The group listed on the JSE in 1995 and currently has two manufacturing facilities based in Richards Bay and Eisenach-Kindel, Germany, to serve the southern and northern hemisphere markets. Bell machines operate in over 80 countries. Bell said in a statement that IAB is of the view that, by delisting, it would be able to take a longer-term view in managing the company and its business, for example, making it easier to make decisions that don&#039;t yield short-term financial results. Bell has now more than tripled in the past year. - Fin24Northam Platinum reports increased productionNortham Platinum reported a just over 10% increase in production from its own operations to 892 876 ounces in its year to end-June, exceeding guidance. It said in a voluntary update that further progress towards achieving the group&#039;s strategic goals of growing safe production down the sector cost curve has been made during F2024. "Our capital investment program remains on track, despite temporary pauses to project modules that can be delayed without a detrimental impact to the overall program, as part of the group&#039;s focus on cash conservation during the current pricing cycle," it said. "Industry challenges remain, particularly in respect of metal prices and mining inflation. However, the combined effect of ongoing and consistent growth in production volumes and increased operational diversification, continues to underpin our defensive position and resilience in the face of the current soft metal price environment." Northam has fallen 10% in the past year. Fin24

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Republikein 2025-04-11

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