COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Lihle Mbele appointed Ascendis Health finance head

Ascendis Health said late on Tuesday that it has appointed Lihle Mbele, its current group head of finance, as interim CFO with effect from the end of July. The group had recently been subject of a buyout offer from a consortium headed by CEO Carl Neethling, but that called this off after a protracted process at the Takeover Regulator Panel. Neethling, who had been acting CFO, said that given the consortium had allowed the long-stop date for the transaction of 20 July to lapse, that the group would therefore remain listed.-FIN24

JSE registers R493 million profit

The JSE Ltd., the entity that operates Africa's largest stock exchange, reported flat interim net profit amid various challenges, including a sluggish domestic economy and political and geopolitical issue. The bourse operator reported a net profit after tax of almost R493 million for the six months ending in June, unchanged from the previous half-year period. The group, which had paid out a dividend representing 82.4% of earnings in 2023, reaffirmed its guidance for 2024 of a payout of between 67% and 100%. Operating income was up 4.2% to R1.5 billion as the JSE's efforts to diversify revenue streams amid ongoing delistings bore fruit. The JSE has been pushing a strategy of earnings diversification, including through its Information Services business - which includes promotion, licensing and sale of data and statistics - and JSE Investor Services (JIS), which provides, among other things, share registry services. Most business segments reported growth in revenue for the period, with JIS revenue up 28.9%, commodity derivatives revenue up 24.7%, and revenue from bonds and interest rate trading rising 7.8% year-on-year. Though overall capital markets revenue was more or less flat at R529 million, equity trading income fell 12% to R212 million for the period as capital flows continued to shift offshore, with more domestic investors seeking out foreign assets. The JSE lost about 1.7% on Wednesday but has still risen 13% in the past year.

Commodity crisis his Impala Platinum

Impala Platinum warned on Wednesday that a downturn in commodity prices is expected to help prompt an up to 90% fall in headline profits for its year to end-June, when it also saw a significant deterioration in fatality metric after a major incident last year, and huge impairments. Implats' headline earnings for the period are expected to decrease by between 85% and 90% to between R1.9 billion and R2.8 billion to end June, the mining group said in a statement. It also expects to report a basic loss of up to R17.8 billion, from earnings of R4.9 billion previously, amid hefty writedowns, notably R16.5 billion for Impala Rustenburg, which reflects a weaker commodity price outlook. Received US dollar sales per 6E ounce fell 34%, with sharply lower average palladium and rhodium pricing, and has embarked on job cuts, saying it incurred R488 million related to restructuring in its 2024 year. Implats, valued at about R76 billion on the JSE, had completed its acquisition of Royal Bafokeng Platinum in May 2023, with this helping in a 12.6% rise in group production to about 3.65 million ounces in its year to end June. Like-for-like production fell 1%. But it also implemented a black economic empowerment transaction, which cost it R1.9 billion, while it also had to account for R19.8 billion in impairments, including R1.6 billion for Impala Canada. Implats gained about 2% on Wednesday but has still fallen more than a quarter on a one-year basis.-FIN24-

Glencore to keep coal assets

Diversified mining giant Glencore announced on Tuesday that it has decided keeping its coal assets within the group is the best way to add value to shareholders. But the diversified mining giant also reported it has swung into a hefty interim loss, in part due to a hefty R11 billion writedown of its SA coal mines in order to reflect lower thermal prices, as well as the local logistics crunch. "Glencore's board, considering both risk and opportunity scenarios, endorsed the retention, rather than demerger, of the coal and carbon steel materials business, as currently providing the optimal pathway for demonstrable and realizable value creation for Glencore shareholders," Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said in a statement. The decision to retain the coal assets was announced alongside Glencore's results for the six months ended in June. The group swung into a $233 million (about R4.28 billion) loss, compared with a $4.56 billion profit in the comparative half. Glencore added 2.6% on Wednesday but has still fallen about 13% in the past year.-FIN24-

Maersk to register 45% profit fall

Danish shipping giant Maersk posted Wednesday a 45% fall in net profit in the second quarter, as supply chain disruptions due to the Red Sea crisis led to higher operating costs. Months of attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea route - which normally carries about 12% of global trade. The Yemeni rebels have been launching drones and missiles at shipping in the Red Sea since last November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war. In the April to June period, Maersk posted a net profit of $798 million, while sales dipped to $12.77 billion, both slightly lower than analysts' forecasts. - AFP.

Sony raises profit forecast

Sony raised its annual net profit forecast on Wednesday after a solid performance in the first quarter, predicting strong sales in video games and music, as well as image sensors used in iPhones. The yen's weakness against the dollar in recent months has boosted takings for the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate. CEO Hiroki Totoki said after the announcement that a rumoured takeover offer for US film and television giant Paramount had been abandoned by the Japanese giant, which decided it was "not a good strategic fit for us at this time". Paramount has agreed to a merger with production company Skydance. For April-June, Sony logged a six percent on-year jump in net profit to 231.6 billion yen (about R29 billion), beating analyst estimates. The company now forecasts net profit of 980 billion yen in 2024-25, also a 6% rise on-year. - AFP.