Today's edition
Flat Out
Good morning. There's a gap between the label and the contents today. Nedbank's profit looks flat until you read the fine print, Capitec is changing its name without changing a thing, and a jar of peanut butter turns out to be a trade-policy battleground. Sometimes the real story is hiding behind the sticker. Let's get into it.
MARKETS
MINDING THE GAP
Nedbank's Profit Looks Flat. The Real Number Is 12%.
Nedbank, one of South Africa's big four banks, told shareholders its half-year profit barely moved, edging up just 0.1% to R8.4 billion for the six months to end-June. On paper, a bank standing still. Look closer, though, and the picture changes: strip out a pan-African business it sold last year, and profit actually grew 12%. Revenue rose 6% to R38.2 billion, return on equity held at 15%, and the interim dividend went up. Then, on the same morning, Nedbank quietly scrapped one of its most senior jobs, the group chief operating officer role, which disappears when its holder retires in December.
Behind the flat number:
- Headline profit rose just 0.1% to R8.4 billion, or 12% once last year's Ecobank sale is stripped out.
- Revenue climbed 6% to R38.2 billion, return on equity held at 15%, and the interim dividend was lifted to 1,052 cents.
- The group COO role is being scrapped when Mfundo Nkuhlu retires in December, leaving Nedbank leaner like rivals Capitec and Absa.
Management says growth should pick up in the second half and is targeting a 17% return on equity by 2028. The next results will show whether a leaner top structure delivers.
IN A JAM
Your Peanut Butter Could Get a 20% Import Tax
South Africa's trade regulator, ITAC, wants to raise the import duty on peanut butter from less than a cent a kilogram to 20% of its value, shielding local makers from cheaper imports, most of them from India. Food producer RCL Foods had asked for 25%; the regulator settled on 20%, saying it balances local jobs against keeping one of the cheapest sources of protein on the shelf affordable. In the same breath, chief commissioner Ayabonga Cawe warned producers and retailers not to 'price into the tariff', promising to call in the competition authorities if jars suddenly get more expensive.
The duty gets reviewed in three years. Until then, a lunchbox staple sits at the centre of a fight over local jobs and shelf prices.
BAGEL BITE
How many bones are in an adult human body?
A. 206
B. 212
C. 198
DOING THE ROUNDS
Amazon just joined the three-trillion-dollar club. Its market value topped $3 trillion for the first time on Monday, closing up 4% and making it only the fifth company ever to get there, alongside Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet. Booming demand for its cloud arm did the heavy lifting after quarterly sales beat expectations. The catch: boss Andy Jassy says even a $220 billion spending plan this year won't keep up with AI demand. Full story →
South Africa's biggest self-storage player is getting bigger, and a rival is crying foul. Stor-Age has agreed to buy ten storage properties from rival Xtraspace for R387 million and manage six more, a deal it says will lift earnings. But Rael Levitt, whose firm Inospace has its own storage ambitions, calls it 'completely uncompetitive' and says it leaves Stor-Age with no national competitor. He says he complained to the competition watchdog in June; the watchdog says it has no record of it. Full story →
Coronation is buying Absa shares while openly doubting the bank's comeback. The roughly R800 billion fund manager says it was right to be sceptical about Absa's retail bank, which it reckons has shrunk to a tiny slice of earnings after years of losing ground. Yet it has just bought into the stock, betting that rock-bottom expectations and new CEO Kenny Fihla's turnaround make it cheap. Whether he can deliver is the open question. Full story →
Capitec is changing its name, and you probably won't notice. Shareholders have approved renaming the holding company from Capitec Bank Holdings Limited to simply Capitec Limited, and the registrar has signed off. From 26 August the shares trade under the new name on the JSE. For customers and investors, nothing else changes: the same 'CPI' share code, the same listing, the same trading history. Full story →
WEATHER
BAGEL GAMES
Have you got what it takes to win today’s Wordle? Play here →
THE ANSWER
As for the Bagel Bite, the answer is: A. 206
A fully grown adult human body usually has 206 bones, divided into the axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. Babies are born with approximately 270 bones, but many fuse together as they grow. The axial skeleton contains 80 bones and forms the central structure of the body, including the skull, spine and rib cage. The appendicular skeleton contains 126 bones and includes the arms, legs, shoulders and hips. The femur is the body’s largest and strongest bone, while the tiny stapes inside the middle ear is the smallest.
That's your Wednesday wrapped. Enjoyed it? Forward it on — a friend can subscribe in a click. Written by the Business Bagel crew.
