Story of the Day
In accordance with the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act No. 41 of 2016, ZAFFICO PLC announces its results for the half year ended 30 June 2022. In the six-month period to June 2022, the Corporation recorded a profit after tax of ZMW 428.71 million compared to ZMW52.10 million for the same period in 2021. The Corporation’s profit was largely driven by the ZMW594.85 million gain in value of the biological assets. Total sales of ZMW135.12 million was realized in the period under review compared to ZMW 177.89 million in the same period of 2021. The delayed commencement of roundwood sale as well as deferment by some customers in the purchase of roundwood during the first half the year negatively impacted the sales revenue. Read more
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Global monetary tightening continues to theme bond appetite for offshores with mixed themes in financial markets. The inflation quagmire remains core to investment decisions as the west remains in the labyrinth of aggressive interest rate hikes to tame the consumer price index scourge. Zambia will seek to raise K2.6 billion in a 2,7,15 year non-benchmark bond re-issuance and a 3,5 and 10 year new benchmark bond issuances. Read more: The Business Telegraph
Zambia’s international bondholders have criticised the International Monetary Fund’s debt restructuring framework as “arbitrary” and for excluding the country’s domestic debt, sources involved in the process have told Reuters. Zambia has been in default for almost two years and an IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis published last week called for its debt-service-to-exports ratio to be cut to a 140% “threshold” from 153% quickly and to 84% by 2027. “Now, all of a sudden, they have an arbitrary 84% number,” said Kevin Daly, head of emerging market debt at Abrdn, who chairs a committee of bondholders estimated to hold around 45% of Zambia’s $3 billion worth of international market debt. Read more: MSN
Ministry of Green Economy and Environment Permanent Secretary says government has heightened efforts to mobilise financial resources to support climate change activities. Speaking on the sidelines of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Global Programming Conference in Incheon, South Korea, John Msimuko revealed that government is building a conducive environment to attract climate financing from multilateral and bilateral partners as well as the private sector. Mr. Msimuko said Government is working closely with financial institutions to green the sector in order to make more climate financing available to the private sector. Read more: Money FM
Zambia Association of Citizen Contractors (ZACCO) the IMF US$1.3 billion package will unlock the opportunity for government to have space to spend on infrastructure development. Association General Secretary Danny Simumba told Money FM News that this is a positive development for the construction sector because spending on infrastructure will have a trickle-down effect of providing opportunities to local contractors. Read more: Money FM
London-listed Tertiary Minerals on Thursday said it had signed an agreement with First Quantum Minerals to jointly explore two copper projects in Zambia. First Quantum, one of the top 10 copper producing companies in the world, operates two copper mines in Zambia, Africa’s second largest producer of the mineral. Tertiary is a mineral exploration and development company with four copper exploration licences in the southern African country. The agreement covers Tertiary’s Mukai and Mushima North licence areas, which are close to First Quantum’s mining operations and exploration targets, Tertiary said in a statement. Read more: Yahoo
The Lusaka High Court has thrown out an application to stay the appointment of Lawyer Celine Nair as Konkola Copper Mine -KCM-Provisional Liquidator. The court has however granted Vedanta Resources Limited an application for leave to start Judicial Review over the appointment of Ms. Nair as the company’s Provisional Liquidator. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will meet face-to-face this week for the first time since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine earlier this year. When they last met, in February in Beijing during the Winter Olympics, they proclaimed their friendship had “no limits.” Since then, Russia has sought ever closer ties with China as Europe and the United States responded to the invasion with wave after wave of sanctions. Read more: CNN
Barclays, a British multinational universal bank, has planned to expand its banking services in Africa. In a report by Bloomberg, it was disclosed that the bank is looking to target the $2 trillion high net-worth market. At the moment Barclays has no plans of creating retail banking services in Africa. Its expansion instead is targeted at high net worth individuals within Africa, as it looks to procure private banking services, alongside investment banking, and corporate. These services, however, are still limited to Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, as the bank notes that these four countries have the highest concentration of wealthy individuals in Africa. Read more: Business Insider
Africa is facing some financial shortcomings owing to the effects of climate change. According to the African Development Bank (AFDB), the continent is losing around 15% of its total GDP due to natural disasters brought about by erratic temperatures and odd weather patterns. Africa is currently bearing the wrath of man-made damage inflicted on the earth. Greenhouse emission is exposing the earth’s atmosphere to more heat than it should take in. The results are aggressive droughts, floods, and cyclones. The chief economist of the AFDB; Kevin Urama disclosed the broadening disparity between Africa’s climate change relief funds and the cost of damage, at the International Cooperation Forum, held in Egypt. “African nations received around $18.3 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2019.” He said. Read more: Business Insider
U.S. equity futures were little changed on Thursday morning as investors looked ahead to several economic reports scheduled to come out in the morning. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched higher by 26 points, or 0.08%. S&P 500 futures added 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 futures ticked 0.06% higher. Earlier in the day, the major averages ended a choppy session on a modestly higher note. The Dow closed slightly higher, by 30 points, after falling more than 200 points at one point. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7%. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 38 trades recorded yesterday, 10,954 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K27,490. A share price gain was recorded in Standard Chartered Zambia of K0.01. A share price loss of K0.03 was recorded in Zambeef. Trading activity was also recorded in Bata, Chilanga Cement, Madison Financial Services, PUMA, Real Estate Investments Zambia, Zambia Sugar and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,058.84 points, 0.03 up from its previous close of 7,057.08 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K71,657,558,044 including Shoprite Holdings and K36,874,872,604 excluding Shoprite Holdings.