Tentative improvements in South Africa’s beleaguered infrastructure sector have started to boost deeply discounted industrial stocks on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
With more than 100 days without rolling power outages, or so-called loadshedding, manufacturers and businesses alike have become more positive about their sales fortunes in the country. And several local industrial companies – wholly or partially exposed to the country’s infrastructure sector – have seen their fortunes reversed.
Sentiment gathered by the RMB/BER Business Confidence index – which surveys about 2,500 companies – has turned positive in the second quarter of 2024 after two consecutive quarterly declines. This meant just over a third of respondents ‘were satisfied with prevailing business conditions’, according to findings.