COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

South Africa's Standard Bank posts 4% rise in half-year profit

Africa's biggest lender by assets Standard Bank said on Thursday its half-year profit rose by 4%, with performance supported by franchise growth in its banking businesses and strong earnings growth in its insurance and asset management unit.

South Africa-based Standard Bank said headline earnings rose to 22 billion rand ($1.22 billion) in the six months ended June 30, up from 21.2 billion rand in the previous year.

Standard Bank, with operations in 20 sub-Saharan African countries, said further earnings growth was hindered by currency devaluations across its operations in the rest of Africa, which contributed 41% to group headline earnings.

Net interest income (NII) - the amount banks earn from loans minus what they pay on deposits- in its banking business grew by 7%.

Gross loans and advances grew by 3% to 1.7 trillion rand, as increased competition and higher interest rates negatively impacted demand and affordability, resulting in subdued growth in the bank's retail portfolios.

This, however, "was more than offset by strong momentum in the corporate and sovereign lending portfolio" supported by projects in the energy and infrastructure sector.

Total provisions for credit impairments increased by 8% to 66.8 billion rand, while credit impairment charges decreased by 15% to 8 billion rand.

-REUTERS-

Northam Platinum warns of profit fall as low PGM prices persist

South Africa's Northam Platinum warned of a sharp fall in profit on Wednesday, saying it expected an uncertain global economic outlook to keep platinum group metal (PGM) prices low for "some time".

The company's share price fell 4% in early trade.

It said its headline earnings per share for the year to June 30 could decrease by as much as 87% to between 3.24 rand and 5.66 rand from 24.15 the previous year.

This is mainly due to a 35.5% fall in the rand price for its metals and despite a 7.3% increase in sales volumes, Northam said in a trading statement.

"The current price environment may last for some time and this, combined with higher general inflation, is placing pressure on the entire PGM sector," Northam said.

Nedbank Group analyst Arnold Van Graan said Northam's operational performance, which increased refined metal output from its own production by 10%, had lessened the impact of low metal prices and kept unit cost increases below inflation.

"Lower metal prices and growth capex would have weighed on free cashflows; however, the company’s counter-cyclical growth strategy remains in place and is helping offset the impact of weaker PGM prices," Van Graan said in a note.

Metal prices are an issue across the sector.

Northam's bigger rival Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J), opens new tab on Aug.7 said it will report a basic loss of up to 17.8 billion rand after lower metal prices led to $1 billion in impairments because its assets declined in value.

The world's biggest PGM producer Anglo American Platinum said its profit fell 18% to 6.5 billion rand in the six months to June 30, weighed down by restructuring costs after it cut 3,700 jobs to reduce spending in addition to the impact of lower metal prices.

Northam will release its financial results on August 30.

-REUTERS-