The local market was quiet this week, with the NSX Local index flat at 464, and the NSX Overall Index down 1.34% at 1505. As at 1 September, FirstRand Namibia was the largest local company on the exchange, with market capitalization of N$ 8 billion, followed by Namibia Breweries with N$ 7 billion, Capricorn Group with N$ 6.7 billion and Standard Bank Namibia with N$ 3.4 billion. Namibia Breweries lead the market this week with growth of 0.06% to close at N$ 34.03 per share. In terms of volume FirstRand Namibia lead the market with N$ 1.3 million worth of shares traded, with Capricorn Group in second place with N$ 635 thousand worth of shares traded. The local currency gained 1.45% against the US Dollar, to close at N$ 14.30 per USD, and gained 1.25% against the British Pound, to close at N$ 19.72 per GBP. It closed at N$ 16.93 against the Euro, a gain of 1.22%.
Standard Bank Namibia Holdings released its unreviewed consolidated interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2021, and revealed that net interest income declined by 4.7% to N$ 601 million for the six months, with profit after tax down by 16.5% to N$ 189 million. As a result, both headline earnings per share as well as earnings per share declined by 18% to 36c per share. The group noted that impairments decreased by 18.5% for the period under review, with loans and advances to customers increasing by 2.7% to N$ 23 billion, with corporate lending showing the strongest growth at 11%. However, deposits and current accounts decreased by 10.2% to 23.7 billion. The group stated that it remains committed to building on these results with strong cost discipline and a focus on credit risk.