Local company news:


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Growthpoint and Hyprop both suffered a drop in distributable income per share. The property funds are taking some strain at the moment, with financing costs running ahead of growth in net operating income at this point in the cycle. The difference is that Growthpoint's distribution dropped in line with income, whereas Hyprop has decided not to pay an interim dividend at all.

Hyprop's major concern seems to be Pick n Pay as the anchor tenant in its malls. Whilst Pick n Pay's problems are clear for all to see, Hyprop owns really high quality malls and it's hard to believe that any of them would be on Pick n Pay's intended closure list.

Moving on, De Beers (part of Anglo American) has reported an uptick in rough diamond sales, so that is good news for a battered diamond industry.

At EOH, it's tough to find anything to get excited about. Growth is proving to be very difficult to come by and operating profit has dropped.

For the sneaker enthusiasts, the news from the apparel sector is that The Foschini Group is bringing JD Sports Fashion to South Africa under a franchise agreement, with a plan to open 40 stores over the next five years.

At Momentum Metropolitan, earnings have achieved a very tasty jump that was made even better by a change to accounting standards.

Finally, you can get the latest from British American Tobacco, Burstone, Orion and Quantum Foods as well.

All these stories (and more) are covered in Ghost Bites, available at this link.

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Currencies, commodities and rates: TreasuryONE Market Update

The cancellation of the SAA deal with Takatso is a setback for government privatisation efforts, leaving taxpayers potentially responsible for another failing state-owned enterprise. On a brighter note, SARB governor Lesetja Kganyago is optimistic about our chances of moving off the FATF greylist by 2025.

Economic data releases are showing challenges for the mining and manufacturing sectors, although the reduction of load shedding this year is a glimmer of hope.

There are also various data releases in the US for the markets to digest, like the release of retail sales. Overall, the markets expect the Fed to keep rates unchanged at next week's FOMC meeting, with the first cut anticipated in June.

Gold recovered after falling in the wake of the CPI number. Base metals are up this morning, with copper as the star as news of production cuts in China came through.

Key indicators: USD/ZAR R18.60; US 10-year 4.20%; Gold $2,170; Platinum ZAR R17,366; Brent Crude $84.11

International company news:


Petco is bidding farewell to CEO Ron Coughlin. He is stepping down as the market grows impatient with the company's growth story. Despite the company actually releasing pretty decent numbers, the share price has come off and the market doesn't like that. I'm not sure how the CEO can be held responsible for US investors who love nothing more than overpaying for a growth story!

To the shock of those who love to extrapolate high earnings, the pandemic boom for pets slowed down. Yes, Bruno still needs to eat every day. No, Bruno doesn't need a new doggy bed every month.

In other retail news, Kohl's has announced a store-in-store deal with Babies R Us that will see 200 roll-outs in the Kohl's footprint. This should do wonders for the baby category in the group. Babies R Us as a brand was acquired by WHP Global after parent company Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy.

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