Firstrand Ltd (FANDF) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

and welcome to the first RENT annual results presentation for the year and that's June 2024, 25. Let's start with the operating environment. The macroeconomic environment over the last financial year was characterized by ongoing global fracturing and reorientation of the global economic policy. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Middle East, and the uncertainty around US tariffs serve as a few examples of this environment. Economic policy uncertainty has lifted well above levels seen in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Sticky inflation and ever-increasing sovereign indebtedness have raised the funding costs of several systemically important economies, This increase is seen in the graph on the right-hand side of the slide, which shows 10-year bond yields in some of these economies. On a comparative basis, South Africa is biking the global trend with a reduction in bond yields supported by the country's structural reform prospects alongside lower inflation expectations. The uncertainty in the global environment spilled into the South African economy, weighing on business and consumer confidence. Consequently, private sector investment was particularly weak. The figure on the left-hand side of the slide shows a progression of GDP growth focus as reflected in the Bloomberg consensus survey. At the start of this financial year, consensus expectations put GDP growth for this year at about 1.6%. At the last survey, the expectations put growth for 2025 at only 1%. There were, however, signals of support to the economic activity in South Africa. Interest rate cuts and lower inflation provided some support to households and businesses, while the reform implementation through Operation Volingela continues. We however expect this high interest rate environment to persist over the ...