FSR
FSR
FSR - FirstRand - Voluntary Trading Update
FIRSTRAND LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1966/010753/06)
Share code: FSR
ISIN: ZAE000066304
NSX Ordinary Share Code: FST
("FirstRand" or "the company")
VOLUNTARY TRADING UPDATE
Shareholders are advised that, on a pro-forma basis, FirstRand Limited`s
normalised earnings (94.3 cents per share), following the unbundling of
Discovery, are expected to grow between 9% and 14% for the six month period
to 31 December 2007.
First National Bank continues to show strong organic growth particularly
benefiting from its position in the corporate and commercial segments.
Vehicle and asset finance is a cyclical, interest rate sensitive business
and therefore WesBank`s earnings have been negatively impacted by the slower
asset growth and higher bad debts characteristic of the current cycle.
Rand Merchant Bank`s (RMB) earnings are expected to increase between 5% and
10% over the comparative period, despite the previous high base created in
the six months to December 2006 when RMB`s profits increased by 75%. This
good performance is due to the diverse nature of RMB`s portfolio of
businesses, with the Private Equity, Investment Banking and Treasury
divisions showing strong growth for the period. The Equity Trading division
was not immune to dislocations in the international equity markets and
incurred losses of approximately R750 million before tax. These losses were
incurred within the bank`s risk management framework and have not impacted
the overall profitability of RMB and FirstRand.
None of the Group`s banking businesses have been directly impacted by the
sub-prime issues in the global capital markets.
The Group`s insurance subsidiary, Momentum, will show a satisfactory
increase in earnings.
Sandton
1 February 2008
Sponsor
RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)
Date: 01/02/2008 13:40:05 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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