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SHARE The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a solid 60.9 index points in October, up from a revised* 58.5 index points in September. The further increase at the start of the fourth quarter is an encouraging sign that the manufacturing sector continues to recover following a record contraction in April. Some respondent comments suggest that…

SHARE Following a robust increase in August, the Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ticked up further to 58.3 index points in September. The shift to a lower lockdown level mid-month likely drove the further improvement in business conditions in the local manufacturing sector. However, as cautioned in August, the fact that the level of the PMI is…

SHARE The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) posted a robust increase to 57.3 index points in August, up from 51.2 in July. This points to a further improvement in conditions in the manufacturing sector as South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown restrictions eased further to Level 2 in August. As a result, both business activity and new sales orders rose in August. The…

SHARE Absa collaborates with Epic ERP and AJS to offer digital solutions that help clients run a secure and efficient business. Absa Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) has collaborated with two major Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) providers in the manufacturing and legal sectors Epic ERP and AJS respectively. This collaboration is to implement integrated seamless…

SHARE • Forms a key pillar of CDC’s response to COVID-19 • Brings total trade finance commitments with Absa to US$ 250 million • Financial backing to support supply chains in vital food and agriculture and healthcare sectors CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, has today announced an additional US$75 million…

SHARE The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for July declined slightly compared to the previous month, but continued to signal a further month-on-month improvement for conditions in the manufacturing sector. The PMI declined to 51.2 index points in July from 53.9 in June, thereby staying above the neutral 50-point mark for a third consecutive month. This suggests…

SHARE The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for June showed that conditions continued to improve in the South African manufacturing sector. This is after most of the sector came to a near standstill during the nationwide Level 5 lockdown in April and only partially returned to normal production levels in May. The headline PMI rose further to 53.9 index…

SHARE Absa Capital Markets Nigeria Limited (“Absa”), acting as joint lead issuing house, has successfully completed Dangote Cement PLC’s (“Dangote Cement”) debut Series 1 bond offering, allocating NGN 100 billion in 5-year fixed-rate senior unsecured bonds under its NGN 300 billion issuance programme. Dangote Cement will use the proceeds of this term bond offering to…

SHARE After plunging to an all-time low of a mere 5.1 index points in April, the business activity index of the Absa PMI survey rose sharply to 43.2 index points in May. “The increase was driven by most factories returning to production, albeit at reduced capacity, during May, after the Level 5 nationwide lockdown brought…

SHARE The business activity index of the Absa PMI survey crashed to an all-time low of a mere 5.1 index points in April. The decline means that manufacturing output came to a near standstill during the nationwide lockdown, with almost all respondents reporting a decline in activity compared to the previous month. Indeed, many respondents indicated that zero production took…