COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Tullow Oil reports higher profit for first half of 2024



West Africa-focused Tullow Oil posted a rise in profit for the first six months of 2024, helped by higher crude prices.

Crude prices have edged higher in the first six months of the year, getting a boost from an OPEC+ production cut extension, supply worries from escalating tensions in the Middle East and expectations of interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Tullow said its realised oil price after hedging for the reported period was $77.7 per barrel, higher than $73.3 per barrel last year.



"We now progress into a period of lower capex in the second half of the year and beyond," said Rahul Dhir, CEO at Tullow.

"We will continue to reduce debt through sustainable free cash flow generation," he said.

The company expects to reach net debt of less than $1 billion in 2024.

Total production for the first-half of the year rose marginally to 63.7 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd), from last year's about 62 kboepd.



The London-listed oil and gas producer reiterated its full-year production outlook but expected it to be at lower end of the 62 to 68 kboepd range.

"While production rose in the period, it has not grown as must as expected due to poor performance at Jubilee (field) with new wells underperforming and Jubilee Southeast ramp-up slower than anticipate," said Panmure Liberum analyst Ashley Kelty.

While Peel Hunt analysts said the company had released a solid set of interim results.

-REUTERS-





Homechoice expects good results

Omni-channel retailer HomeChoice International said on Tuesday that shareholders can expect a 25% and 45% rise in headline earnings per share in its six months to end-June from 143.7c previously, though it didn't go into detail in its brief update. HomeChoice, valued at about R26 million on the JSE, closed just under 2% lower on Tuesday but has gained over a quarter in the past twelve months.

-FIN24-



Nedbank bolstered by digital channels

Nedbank has highlighted its digital achievements in the first half of the year despite moderate profit growth, which still allowed it to increase its interim dividend by 11.5% to R9.71. SA's fifth-largest bank by market capitalisation reported an 8% growth in headline earnings to R7.91 billion for the six months ending in June, while the bank's return on equity (ROE) increased to 15%, up from 14.2% in the previous half-year. The active users of the Nedbank Money app grew by 16% to 2.6 million during the period, and transaction volumes on the digital banking portal increased by 13% year-on-year. Revenue from value-added services such as prepaid data, vouchers, electricity, and money sending to cellphones grew by 28% year-on-year. Nedbank's new chief executive, Jason Quinn, who succeeded Mike Brown after his retirement at the end of May, noted that the operating environment in the first half of 2024 remained challenging due to SA's weak economy, ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, inflation, high interest rates, and uncertainty ahead of the national elections. However, Quinn expressed cautious optimism about the post-election environment and anticipated better macroeconomic conditions in the second half of 2024. Nedbank added about 4% on Tuesday and has risen by over a fifth in the past 12 months.

-FIN24-



SARB tariff still to be announced

The SA Revenue Service (SARS) says a date is yet to be set for imposing 45% tariffs, plus VAT, on small cut-price clothing imports flooding the SA market from brands such as Shein and Temu. SARS spokesperson Siphithi Sibeko said on Monday that the agency was consulting with the industry before upping the tariff on imported clothing, textiles, and footwear costing under R500. "The consultations are still under way," he said. Sibeko said SARS and the retail industry, including parcel delivery companies, are still discussing an implementation date. The agency doesn't want to "arbitrarily" set a date, causing a rush to comply.

-FIN24