By Nqobile Dludla
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s Nedbank Group posted a 6% rise in half-yearly headline earnings on Tuesday and announced plans to sell its more than 21% stake in Pan-African lender Ecobank to focus on Southern Africa and East Africa regions.
Nedbank Chief Executive Jason Quinn said a review recognised the risks of continuing to hold onto the group’s investment in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) due to regulatory uncertainty and potential increase in capital requirements.
“The board has approved a formal plan to dispose of the investment, and we are currently engaging interested parties and, if a sale is concluded, it will be a clean deal,” Quinn said in a statement.
The group has a 21.2% stake in Ecobank.
For the six months ended June 30, the bank’s headline earnings, a profit measure, grew to 8.4 billion rand ($468 million) from 7.9 billion rand a year earlier.
The lender revised its 2025 forecasts citing a more difficult than expected South African business environment and change in its strategy regarding Ecobank.
“We now expect DHEPS (diluted headline earnings per share) growth for the year to be in low single digits and return on equity around 15%,” Quinn said.
($1 = 17.9418 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Kim Coghill and Subhranshu Sahu)
