Company news in brief

Nvidia now the world’s most valuable companyNvidia Corp.’s relentless rally has propelled the semiconductor giant’s market capitalisation over its mega-cap tech peers, helping it clinch the title of the world’s most-valuable company as the artificial intelligence wave continues. Shares rose as much as 3.4% to about US$3.3 trillion (about R60 trillion) on Tuesday, catapulting it over Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. The top stocks have jockeyed all month for the pole position, with Nvidia edging past its big-tech peers. Earlier in the month, Nvidia capped Apple by market value for the first time since 2002, and the two went back and forth in rankings in recent days. Last week, Apple also overtook Microsoft to trade in the top spot briefly.The ranking is yet another reminder that AI is the top focus of many investors. Nvidia is seen as the biggest and earliest beneficiary of the technology as it dominates the market with its highly sought-after chips that help power data centers running complex computing tasks required by AI applications. Demand for its H100 accelerators are surging and helped drive the chipmaker’s sales up by more than 125% last year. Microsoft, for its part, is also seen as an early AI winner given its investment and partnership with OpenAI, which created ChatGPT. And, this week, Apple shares rallied after the iPhone maker finally unveiled its plan for using the technology, appeasing investors at long last. “We believe over the next year the race to US$4 Trillion Market Cap in Tech will be front and centre between Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft,” Daniel Ives analyst at Wedbush Securities wrote in a note. - Fin24/BloombergSephaku flags HEPS jumpCement group Sephaku Holdings flagged a jump in headline earnings per share to between 24.5c and 26c in its year to end-March from just under 10c previously. It said in its brief trading update that Métier Mixed Concrete and Dangote Cement "both demonstrated resilience and agility in maintaining market share", and Métier delivered strong growth in revenue and profit. Deteriorating economic conditions and persistent challenges in the cement industry impacted Sephaku Cement&#039;s financial performance, but they still managed to return to levels achieved during the year before last, it said. Sephaku, valued at about R350 million on the JSE, had jumped over a quarter in afternoon trade and has now risen by half in the past year. - Fin24Stor-Age reports better revenueStor-Age, SA&#039;s largest self-storage property fund, reported that revenue picked up almost 15% to R1.22 billion in its year to end-March, but distributable income picked up only marginally to about R563 million.Its dividend per share climbed marginally to 118.17c per share. Its portfolio comprises 103 trading properties across SA (60) and the UK (43), valued at R17.3 billion. Net finance costs picked up to about R205 million from R140 million, but it said its achieved rental rate was up 9.5% in SA and 4.7% in the UK. Shares in Stor-Age, valued at about R6.6 billion on the JSE, have gained about 8% in the past 12 months. - Fin24Telkom’s mobile, fibre business performSouth Africa&#039;s third-biggest mobile operator Telkom said a strong showing from its mobile and fibre businesses helped it improve both operating profits and margins in its 2024 year, hinting of a return of dividend in 2025. Group revenue rose 1.6% to R43.2 billion in the year to end March and core profit just over 5% to R10 billion, the group said, with margins helped by more customers for its next generation products, and a decrease in the cost of equipment like handsets. The ICT group, which is valued at about R12.4 billion on the JSE, had a tough 2023, when it was hit by hefty write-downs of its legacy systems, front-loading of handset sale costs, and the effects of restructuring as it moved to cut more than a tenth of its workforce. Telkom has been pursuing a new digital strategy with "infrastructure at its core," which prompted hefty writedowns to its copper business. Bouncing back from the effects including a R13 billion write-down in 2023, Telkom reported a profit of R1.4 billion or 2023, from a loss of about R10 billion previously, though it still opted not to pay a dividend.Management has, however, "considered the group&#039;s business plans and is confident that Telkom will be in a position to pay dividends in the near term, with full year 2025 targeted as the first year-end to consider paying a dividend," it said. Telkom has fallen almost a quarter in the past year. - Fin24Thungela warns of earnings fallCoal miner Thungela warned shareholders to expect an up to 69% fall in headline earnings per share for its six months to end-June, hit by tough global economic conditions alongside continued rail performance challenges in South Africa. European and Asian winter energy demand did not meet expectations and thus coal and gas stock levels remained elevated at key import hubs, it said. This resulted in reduced demand and softer benchmark coal prices for most of the first half of the year. Thungela has lost about a quarter in the past year. - Fin24

Company news in brief

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