South Africa avoids recession...

The South African economy has grown by 0.6% in the final quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. Despite this performance being seemingly good, it is actually more concerning than it seems as South Africa's economic growth is still lower than its population growth. In layman's terms, our people are actually getting poor as our economic growth is currently 0.6% whilst our population growth is 1.5%, that's more than twice the growth of the economy. Industries' growth in 2024 fiscal year: (i) Finance Sector - This sector pushed the GDP up by 0.8 percentage points for the whole 2024 fiscal year. (ii) Agriculture - This industry had a turbulent year and its impact has been immense. The industry, however, managed to recover by 17.2%, following a sharp decline in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year. (iii) Finance, real estate and business services industry have been the biggest positive contributors to the economic growth. (iv) Manufacturing was also lower due the low production levels in the metals and machinery and automotive sectors. (v) Mining activity decreased in the fourth quarter due to low production levels. Household expenditure contributed immensely to the demand side of the economy, measured by the expenditure on the GDP, said Stats SA. Stats SA further reported that households spent 2.4% more in Q4 2024 than they did in Q4 2023. Woolworths performance

The financial overview: 1. Turnover and concession = R40.3 billion, a 5.7% increase on LY. 2. Turnover = R39.6 billion, which is a 5.4% increase on LY. 3. Profit before tax = R2.6 billion, which is a 6.4% on LY. 4. Adjusted profit before tax = R2.0 billion, which is a 20.6% decrease on LY. 5. Headline earnings per share = R1.53 per share, a 24.8% decrease on LY. 6. Earnings per share = R2.45 per share, a 20.9 increase on LY. 7. Interim dividend per share = R1.70 per share, a 27.7% decrease on LY. 8. Adjusted diluted headline earnings per share = R1.69 per share, a 19.4% decrease on LY. 9. Return on capital employed = 17%,

10. Net borrowing = R4.7 billion

    
    

    These financial results are made up in the following: 1. Fashion, beauty and home division (i) Turnover and concession sales = +2.5% (ii) Adjusted Operating Profit = -17.7%
    

    2. Food division (i) Turnover and concession division = +11.4% (ii) Adjusted Operating Profit = +7.8% 3. Country Road Group (i) Turnover = -6.2% (ii) Adjusted Operating Profit = -71.7% The group's results reflect a strong performance from Woolworths' leading division, the food division, and they also reflect the setbacks the group suffered from its FBH division and the CRG, due to their journey of transformation Coins News Gold news

    

    This week Gold is back on a bullish sentiment, with prices failing to break below the $2843 per ounce level. $2843 proved to be the strongest support level that the market respected. My trading prediction is that prices are going to respect that $2952.661 price level and they will retest back into a bearish sentiment until the $2747.933 support level. This is also known as the "M" formation. That is all for this week. Thank you for reading and please like, comment and share with your friend!