The Daily Update: 16 May

The latest updates from the JSE and NYSE over the past 24 hours.

South Africa

Vodacom Group Limited

• Vodacom has provided an update on the acquisition of a 30% interest in Infraco.
• The transaction involves the acquisition of assets owned by Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH), including Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa.
• Upon completion of the transaction, Vodacom Group will hold a 30% equity interest in a newly formed entity called Maziv.
• Vodacom Group has the option to acquire an additional 10% stake in Maziv, increasing its shareholding to 40%.
• The transaction is still pending approval from the South African competition authorities.

Calgro M3 Holdings Limited- Dealings in securities

• An executive director purchased 41 000 shares for a total value of R114 800.00.

Santam Limited- Operational Update

• Operating conditions were challenging due to electricity supply disruptions, elevated inflation, and higher interest rates affecting insurance growth prospects and personal disposable income.
• Adverse claims experience from inclement weather and ongoing power surge claims affected the property class of business.
• Despite the challenges, the company demonstrated operational resilience and achieved sound financial results.
• The motor class underwriting performance showed significant improvement compared to the same period in 2022.
• The FutureFit strategy was rolled out successfully, including the new operating model and restructuring of the Commercial & Personal multi-channel business into three units.
• The Conventional Insurance business achieved 6% gross written premium growth.
• Santam Client Solutions and Broker Solutions businesses experienced good growth in gross written premiums, with both intermediated and direct channels contributing to the improved growth.
• Santam Specialist Solutions business recorded strong growth in gross written premiums, mainly driven by liability, marine, aviation, and travel.

FirstRand Limited- Dealings in securities

• A director purchased 78 000 shares for a total value of R4 843 800.00.

The U.S.

Apple

• Apple just previewed software features for cognitive, vision, hearing, and mobility accessibility, along with new tools for individuals who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak.
• The new Personal Voice feature for people who may lose their ability to speak will allow them to create a synthesized voice that sounds like them to talk with friends or family members.
• According to Apple, users can create a Personal Voice by reading a set of text prompts aloud for a total of 15 minutes of audio on the iPhone or iPad.

Home Depot earnings

• EPS of $3.82 beating expectations of $3.79.
• Revenue of $37.3B missing expectations of $38.4B.

Wells Fargo

• Wells Fargo has agreed to pay shareholders $1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the bank of overstating its progress in cleaning up after its 2016 fake-accounts scandal.