Amid weak corporate news, South Carolina's largest hospital operator, Netcare, appeared to please the market with news of local profit growth. Life Healthcare, South Carolina's second-largest company, was disappointed Thursday. In international news, U.S. competition regulators have barred Pioneer's former CEO from serving on its board amid a major deal with ExxonMobil.
Netcare operates the largest private hospital network in the South East. announced on Friday that normalized group core profit is expected to rise by 7.3% to 7.7% in the six months to the end of March, outpacing sales growth of just over 4%. Total paid patient days decreased by 0.8% sequentially, but reduced load shedding enabled the group to reduce diesel costs from R68 million to R39 million. Despite the high inflation environment and the declaration of an additional public holiday on December 15, the company said total operating costs were well contained, despite an increase in staff costs of approximately R22 million. Pleasantly, despite the volume decline, core margins in the core Hospital & Pharmacy sub-segment were supported by a favorable revenue mix and tight cost control, even excluding diesel costs and strategic initiatives. and strengthened. Netcare was valued at R16.8 billion on the JSE and closed up just over 3% on Friday. However, it has fallen by more than a quarter in the past year.
Harmony Gold announced on Friday that a jackhammer operator employed by the company was killed in a ground fall. Thursday at Dawnko Mine in Soweto. The cause of the accident is currently under investigation both internally and by regulatory authorities, the company said, expressing its condolences. CEO Peter Steenkamp said in a statement: “We are extremely sorry to have lost one of our colleagues.” “At Harmony, safety is our top priority. A safe mine is a productive mine, never the other way around. These tragedies remind us that we must never be complacent and that our goal is to never be complacent. It's a stark reminder that we still have a lot to do to achieve that.''We remain focused on embedding risk management practices across Harmony to eliminate accidents in the workplace. Masu. ” The group announced on Thursday that an underground construction employee working on planned railway maintenance work was killed on Wednesday at the Mponeng mine near Carletonville.
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