The Daily Update: 17 February

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

South Africa

ABSA Group Limited- Voluntary trading update and trading statement for the year ended 31 December 2022

• Group revenue for 2022 is expected to increase by mid-teens year-on-year.
• ABSA expects substantial pre-provision profit growth in the mid-20s.
• 2022 credit loss ratio is expected to be around 91 basis points.
• Return on equity is expected to improve year-on-year to slightly below 17%.
• IFRS EPS is expected to rise by 12% to 18%, to between 2396 and 2525 cents.

Dis-Chem Pharmacies Limited- Trading Update For The Period 1 September 2022 To 5 February 2023

• Group revenue excluding vaccines and COVID-19 related grew by 8.7%.
• Retail revenue excluding vaccines and COVID-19 related grew by 7.5%.
• External wholesale revenue growth of 18.7%.
• The CEO added that Dis-Chem continues to maintain its healthcare and nutrition market share and market leadership position.
• The Groups diesel expense increased by 54% to R36m for the period.

Barloworld Limited- Voluntary trading update for the four months to 31 January 2023

• The group achieved favourable revenue growth in its core businesses in the Industrial Equipment and Consumer industries verticals.
• Zeda Limited, the car rental and leasing business, was successfully unbundled and separately listed on the JSE on 13 December 2022, and its results have been consolidated into the groups numbers up to 13 December 2022.

Discovery Limited- Voluntary trading statement for the six-month period ended 31 December 2022

• EPS is expected to be between 429.0 cents and 453.9 cents per share, representing a decrease of between 9% and 14%.

Aveng Limited- Trading statement for the six months period ended 31 December 2022

• Basic EPS is expected to be between 35 cents and 40 cents, representing a decrease of between 7% and 19%.
• In short, Aveng expects to report increased revenues, softer operating earnings and flat earnings for the six months period ended 31 December 2022 in comparison to the prior year comparative period.

The U.S.

General Motors

• General Motors CEO Mary Barra said 2023 is the year that GM moves past its traditional rivals and starts its attempt to close the gap on Tesla.

Deere earnings

• EPS of $6.55 beating expectations of $5.4.
• Revenue of $12.65B beating expectations of $11.15B.
• Deere raised its FY23 Net Income guidance to between $8.75B-$9.25B up from between $8B-$8.5B.

Meta

• Facebook gave thousands of employees subpar ratings in a recently concluded round of performance reviews, a signal that more job cuts may be on the way.