Equity Snapshot - 20 May 2013

Vodacom FY HEPS up 23%: Final dividend per share of 430 cents declared. Salient features: Group revenue up 4.5%. Excluding the sale of Gateway Carrier Services and foreign currency impact, revenue was up 5.3%* and service revenue was up 2.9%*. Group data revenue up 22.2%; active data customers increased 22.5% to 18.5 million as we continued to drive smartphone penetration. International operations maintained strong momentum; service revenue was up 22.3%* supported by customer growth and increased adoption of data and financial services.

Pioneer Food H1 HEPS up 38%: Dividend of 46 cents per share declared.

• Revenue up 11% to R10 billion
• Interim gross dividend per listed ordinary share 46 cents (2012: 44 cents) up 5%
• Operating profit (before items of a capital nature) up 11% to R517 million
• Adjusted operating profit (before items of a capital nature)* down 7% to R582 million
• Earnings per share up 39% to 181 cents
• Headline earnings per share up 38% to 182 cents
• Adjusted headline earnings* down 0.1% to R393 million
• Adjusted headline earnings per share* down 0.6% to 218 cents
• Net asset value per share up 8% to 3 538 cents

African Bank H1 HEPS down 26%: Dividend per share of 25 cents declared

Features:

• Headline earnings decline by 26% to R1 015 million (H1 2012: R1 370 million)
• Headline earnings per share of 125,7 cents (H1 2012: 170,4 cents)
• Return on equity of 13,9% (H1 2012: 20,3%)
• Economic loss of R47 million (H1 2012: Economic profit of R390 million)
• Ordinary dividends per share of 25 cents (H1 2012: 85 cents)

Barloworld H1 HEPS up 31%: Interim dividend of 96 cents per share up 20%

• Revenue up 11% to R31.3 billion
• Operating profit up 14% to R1 463 million
• Profit before exceptional items up 20% to R995 million
• HEPS up 31% to 321 cents (H112: 245 cents) 
• Interim dividend of 96 cents per share up 20%

NUM seeks hikes of up to 60% for entry-level miners: Raising the prospect of fresh strikes as firms battle higher costs and falling prices. South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers said it would seek pay rises of up to 60 percent from gold and coal producers, raising the prospect of fresh strikes as firms battle higher costs and falling prices in an already heated labour climate. Africa's biggest economy is hoping to avoid the 2012 wildcat strike action at platinum and gold mines that cost billions in lost revenue and production and killed over 50 people. Mineworkers are mobilizing to assert themselves, with the NUM fighting a challenge to its once near monopoly in the shafts from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which has poached tens of thousands of platinum miners from it in a violent struggle for members.

South African mines cannot afford pay rises – Impala: Mining industry can ill afford to offer wage rises so it may well face fresh strikes. South Africa's mining industry can ill afford to offer wage rises during talks that are about to start with a new and unpredictable union, so it may well face fresh strikes, Impala Platinum (JSE:IMP) said on Friday. South African mining companies are due to embark on one of their toughest periods of wage talks in the next one or two weeks, with increasingly radicalised unions. The world's biggest platinum producing country is hoping to avoid the 2012 wildcat strike action that cost billions in lost revenue and production. Mining companies are hurting from a nearly 20 percent drop in platinum prices in the last two years, as the supply disruptions failed to offset weakness in demand for the metal used chiefly in motor vehicle catalysts.

Finbond FY HEPS up 338.5%: A solid performance by the newly-licenced bank. Finbond reports revenue from continuing operations  increased 8%  to  R212.7 million (Feb 2012: R 197 million), for the year ended February 28 2013.05.17. The Group is primarily a financial services provider with significant business interests in the microfinance environment. It reports micro credit segment revenue increased 30.2% to R 207 million from R159million in the previous comparable period.

Other key highlights:

• Headline earnings per share increased 338.5% to 3.1c (Feb 2012: loss 1.3c)
• Share price increased 1885.7% to R 1.39 (Feb 2012: R 0.07)
• Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company increased 53.3% to R 20.7 million. (Feb 2012: R 13.5 million)
• Value of loans advanced increased 7.9% to R 407.8 million (Feb 2012: R 378 million)
• Cash received from customers increased 5% to R 563.2 million (Feb 2012: R 536.2 million)
• Total Assets Increased 16.6% to R 556.3m (Feb 2012: R 477.1 million)
• Net Tangible Asset Value increased 31.3% to R 244.5 million (Feb 2012: 186.3 million)
• Received formal consent from the Registrar of Banks to establish and register a mutual bank, namely Finbond Mutual Bank,
• Became a member of the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA)
• Raised R 164million in fixed term retail deposits in the first five months of operation as a Mutual Bank.

The Registrar of Banks issued Finbond Mutual Bank with a banking license in July 2012, reportedly the first banking licence issued to a local company by the South African Reserve Bank in more than ten years. Finbond is one of three major micro lenders that have evolved into banks, the other two being Capitec and African bank.

AMCU threatens to bring SA to "standstill": We said we are going to bring the economy to a standstill - Mathunjwa. RUSTENBURG - The leader of South Africa's biggest platinum mining union threatened on Friday to bring Africa's No. 1 economy "to a standstill" and demanded a meeting with President Jacob Zuma, ramping up the rhetoric in an 18-month labour crisis. The rand, which tumbled to a four-year low against the dollar on Thursday on fears of a strike at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), extended its slide on concerns about further disruptions to an already struggling economy. The currency fell as low as 9.4334, its lowest since April 2009 when emerging markets were still reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis. Joseph Mathunjwa, head of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), said Zuma's ruling African National Congress (ANC) was ignoring violence against its members in the platinum belt near the northwest city of Rustenburg.

Source: 28E Capital (Pty) Ltd