SA jobless rate soars; Nedbank sheds jobs; social grant fraud hurts taxpayers; Shoprite profit plummets; losses hammer Massmart; Brexit plagues pound
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South Africa’s latest unemployment figures make for grim reading. The unemployment rate has jumped in the past three months by about 2% to 29%.
Highlighting the challenges facing South African employers, Nedbank Group has confirmed it is in talks with about 1,500 employees over potential job cuts in retail and business banking to cope with a struggling economy and increased competition.
And, in another blow to South Africa’s economic recovery, it is reported that Eskom’s losses continue to mount. Although the power utility has been rocked by allegations of corruption and state capture, its top management team blames a net loss after tax of R20.7bn for the 2019 financial year on escalating municipal debt, a lower-than-expected tariff increase granted by the energy price regulator for the 2018/19 financial year, a decline in sales volumes, and an above inflation wage settlement with unions.
South Africa’s social grant system has been ransacked by fraudsters, with a staggering 21,000 fraud cases registered by the end of June - and not a single one finalised or resolved, social development minister Lindiwe Zulu said in Parliament on Tuesday.
South African supermarket chain Shoprite warned that full-year earnings are set to fall as much as 20% as forex shortages, local currency weakness and a trading loss outside its home market weigh on profit, reports Reuters. Shrugging off the bad news, its share price rose 3%.
The big loser of the day in Johannesburg was Massmart, which plummeted 20% after it released a sales and trading update that took investors by surprise.
Fears of a disorderly Brexit continued to squeeze the value of the British pound, with analysts warning that volatility is likely continue until 31 October - the day that the UK is scheduled to become divorced from the European Union.
Highlighting the challenges facing South African employers, Nedbank Group has confirmed it is in talks with about 1,500 employees over potential job cuts in retail and business banking to cope with a struggling economy and increased competition.
And, in another blow to South Africa’s economic recovery, it is reported that Eskom’s losses continue to mount. Although the power utility has been rocked by allegations of corruption and state capture, its top management team blames a net loss after tax of R20.7bn for the 2019 financial year on escalating municipal debt, a lower-than-expected tariff increase granted by the energy price regulator for the 2018/19 financial year, a decline in sales volumes, and an above inflation wage settlement with unions.
South Africa’s social grant system has been ransacked by fraudsters, with a staggering 21,000 fraud cases registered by the end of June - and not a single one finalised or resolved, social development minister Lindiwe Zulu said in Parliament on Tuesday.
South African supermarket chain Shoprite warned that full-year earnings are set to fall as much as 20% as forex shortages, local currency weakness and a trading loss outside its home market weigh on profit, reports Reuters. Shrugging off the bad news, its share price rose 3%.
The big loser of the day in Johannesburg was Massmart, which plummeted 20% after it released a sales and trading update that took investors by surprise.
Fears of a disorderly Brexit continued to squeeze the value of the British pound, with analysts warning that volatility is likely continue until 31 October - the day that the UK is scheduled to become divorced from the European Union.
