COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Kumna to invest R7.6 billion in Sishen project

Africa's largest iron ore miner Kumba announced on Thursday it would spend another R7.6 billion on its ultra-high-dense-media-separation (UHDMS) project as Sishen, something which is set to boost both its production of premium iron ore as well as its margins. The move will bring its total spend on the project to R11.2 billion by the end of its 2028 financial year and boost the volume of premium iron ore to about 55% of Sishen's production, up from about 18% currently. The new technology uses ferrosilicon to separate iron ore from waste and allows greater flexibility to process a wider range of grades and densities of ore.

-FIN24-

Impala Platinum anticipates huge profit dip

Impala Platinum has reported a huge fall in annual profit as lower metal prices and several significant once-off costs, including those related to the acquisition of Royal Bafokeng Platinum, took a hefty toll on the platinum group metals (PGM) miner. In its results for the year ended in June, Implats reported an 87% decline in headline earnings to R2.4 billion, saying the benefits of strong operational performance in the year was offset by significantly weaker US dollar sales revenue. "Sharply lower average palladium and rhodium pricing negated higher sales volumes and the benefit of a weaker average rand," Implats said in a statement on Thursday. No dividend was declared, and the group was also hit by several once-off cash non-cash items, including a R20 billion hit to Impala Platinum amid the lower prices, including to its equipment and goodwill - an intangible asset that reflects the excess value in a business and includes such things as brand value or customer relationships.

-FIN24-

Sanlam sees one quarter rise in profit

Short-term insurance giant Santam has seen its profit climb by more than a third, due in part to stricter underwriting in its commercial business, resulting in a sharp fall in fire claims. The country's largest general insurer posted a 35% increase in headline earnings to R1.73 billion in the six months ended 30 June 2024, allowing it to raise its interim dividend by 8.1% to 535c per share. Total gross written premiums grew by 8% to just over R19 billion - with the vehicle book showing a strong recovery and most other business segments also contributing positively to the underwriting result. Gross claims paid in the half-year amounted to R14.2 billion, down from the R14.6 billion in the prior interim period.

-FIN24-

Chinese tech giant Huawei sales surge

Chinese tech giant Huawei said Thursday that sales surged over a third in the first half of the year, even as it struggles under the weight of sanctions that have deprived it of technology from the US. The Shenzhen-based company has for several years been at the centre of an intense technological rivalry between Beijing and Washington, with US officials warning its equipment could be used to spy on behalf of Chinese authorities - allegations it denies. Since 2019, the sanctions have cut Huawei off from global supply chains for technology and US-made components, hammering its production of smartphones at the time. On Thursday it posted sales of $58.72 billion in January-June, an on-year increase of 34.3%. That compares with 3.1% in the same period last year. It did not break down net profit. Huawei is a private company that is not publicly traded and is therefore not subject to the same obligations as other companies to publish detailed results.

-AFP-

Nvidia sales top expectations

Artificial intelligence behemoth Nvidia on Wednesday said quarterly sales reached a higher-than-expected $30 billion (R354 billion) in the last quarter but grew slower than the furious pace seen in previous quarters. Declared by Wall Street to be the world's most important stock, the California-based AI chipmaker led by CEO Jensen Huang saw its share price fall by about three percent in after-hours trading. Even though sales and profit, which hit $16.5 billion in the period, more than doubled, investors showed nervousness that Nvidia's extraordinary growth, spurred by the AI frenzy, may be showing signs of normalization. The world's biggest tech companies have invested tens of billions of dollars, quarter after quarter, into Nvidia's powerful AI chips and software in order to get their ChatGPT-style AI models up and running. Microsoft, Google, Meta, Tesla and Amazon all depend on Nvidia technology to train generative AI models and execute the heavy computing workloads needed to deploy the new technology.

-AFP-