Sappi crumples as rand costs hit
It’s one step forward, two steps back for Sappi, South Africa’s longest-listed paper producer. This quarter, it produced a stomach-churning loss of $413m.
By Giulietta Talevi
Features
How Capitec became a banking behemoth
Capitec succeeded by moving fast but sticking to conservative principles. It is now South Africa's biggest bank by numbers and has other targets lined up
By Antoinette Steyn and Ruby Delahunt
News & Fox
Auto sector still in credit
The value of South African automotive exports to the US plunged by 29% in 2025 as President Donald Trump’s punitive import-duty war took hold.
By David Furlonger
JAMIE CARR: Gambling on the Wild West vibes
Kalshi's growth trajectory explodes as TMTG takes an epic tumble
SIMON BROWN: Phrases go through phases
Every once in a while a new financial phrase comes across my desk — one that either I’d never heard before or had heard but never considered useful.
CHRIS BARRON: What South African manufacturers want
China’s zero-tariff policy, announced gleefully by trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau last week, won’t save South Africa’s declining manufacturing sector, says Philippa Rodseth, executive director of the Manufacturing Circle.
Markets Data
Editor’s Choice
Published by The Financial Mail Group and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.
Top Stories
JAMIE CARR: Gambling on the Wild West vibes
BRYAN SILKE: ‘Mature, low growth’? Blu still offers plenty of go
Can Sibanye conquer Europe?
CHRIS BARRON: What South African manufacturers want
TIM COHEN: This train goes to a castle in the air
DINNER PARTY INTEL: Big wings for little wasp
Why Alexandra Abrahams doesn’t want to be the smartest person in the room
When CEOs plough back
NICOLE MARTENS: When a policy isn’t a policy: the problem with asset manager voting ‘guidelines’
THE FINANCE GHOST: AI deflation, energy inflation … and a housing shock?
More from Financial Mail
News & insights from our commercial partners
Opinions Read more
→
WATCH: Nampo showcases the vibrancy of South Africa’s agricultural sector
But the outlook isn’t all positive. The winter crop season paints a more concerning picture
MICHAEL AVERY: Aesop’s fables, updated
The competition bureaucracy couldn’t simply make everyone happy by raising the filing thresholds for mergers — it had to go and force companies into employee share ownership programmes
MARC HASENFUSS: Southern Sun shines amid stormy weather
Could HCI find a buyer willing to pay a premium for securing the upside in the hotel group?