GNU announcement boosted JSE, amid flat profits for 1st half of 2024

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) announced a 'stable' set of results for the first six months of its financial year, which reflected flat profits.

Presenting its half-year results to end-June, the JSE reported net profit after tax of R493 million.

This translated into headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 606 cents, a drop of 0.2%.

The JSE saw 4.2% growth in operating income, underpinned by increasingly diversified revenue streams.

It noted that these results were achieved 'despite a challenging macro-economic, political and trading environment'

JSE Group CEO Leila Fourie puts the results into perspective on The Money Show.

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Fourie highlights the impact of the announcement of the National Government of Unity (GNU).

"We did have a very slow first quarter to the year, where trading revenue was down 24% and that was then reversed in the second quarter."

"Then, after the announcement of the GNU, we've seen a very strong comeback."

Leila Fourie, Group CEO - JSE

Fourie says trading and the rand rallied directly after the announcement, and has continued to increase.

She also cites the JSE's positive performance compared to emerging market indices through the six months, and also more recently.

"We're doing a lot better - for the year to date, our offshore index is up 3.3%, at close of business yesterday, and that is outperforming the emerging market index which was up 2.3%."

"Even if you look at Monday's very volatile trading with huge losses across hte board, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was down over 4%, and we were down just over 1%."

"This is indicating quite a remarkable shift in sentiment, particularly for global investors in the possibility of investing into South Africa."

Leila Fourie, Group CEO - JSE

More more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article