News and Updates

With unemployment rates at a whopping 27.1% in the second quarter of 2018, the current state of the economy and 51.7% of the South African population being female, it is important for women to be granted opportunities in what is traditionally viewed as male-dominated industries, such as trade and manufacturing. This is the view of Nelia Burger, training and development manager at Novus Holdings, who says that South Africa still has a long way to go to remove barriers for women to enter these industries. “Artisans play a critical role…

Novus Holdings, one of the largest commercial printing and manufacturing operations in Africa, today announced that it has signed a significant new printing deal with Independent Media. The contract will run for five years, commencing 01 August 2018. The allocation of these outsourced newspaper and magazine volumes will contribute strongly to group volumes. Independent Media will continue with the current in house production at its own facilities. Neil Birch, Novus Holdings Group CEO, said that the contract is welcomed given the maturity of the printing market in a constrained South…

Only 26% of graduates finish their three-year degrees. This is according to the recently released and audited Vital Stats Public Higher Education 2016 report, which finds that the number of students who drop out of higher education institutions has increased to staggering proportions. Peter Metcalfe, Group Executive for Sales and Marketing at Novus Holdings, says that one way of assisting to resolve this statistic is with bursary programmes. Providing additional personal support together with a bursary can go a long way in addressing the poor drop-out rate at higher institutions….

Financial Results Highlights for the Year Ended 31 March 2018: Diversification strategy moves in right direction as 16% of revenue income is from diversified businesses over medium term (2017: 8%) Revenue remains largely unchanged at R4,308 million (2017: R4,312 million) Free cash flow shows 68,4% increase and cash conversion ratio up by 31,1% Gross shareholder dividend of 52 cents per share declared (2017: 56 cents) 15 June 2018: Novus Holdings (JSE: NVS) today reported an increase of 0,6% in gross profit to 26,2% for the FY2018 (2017: 25,6%), thanks to…

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s YES programme a positive step in the right direction, and well help allow the very necessary transfer of trade skills, improving unemployment and economy. Unemployment rates continue to climb with 5.98 million South Africans still jobless. While many people in the country are not educated or skilled enough to get jobs in an already competitive market, numerous graduates are also among the unemployed. “The lack of skilled artisans is a major barrier to job creation and economic growth. They play a hugely important role in the economic…

Almost thirty years ago Durban-based Michelene Locke gave up her four-year career as a teacher to enter the world of manufacturing. Today she is the head of marketing and sales at ITB Plastics, and she doesn’t regret a thing. This is the view of Michelene Locke, who today is the head of marketing and sales of ITB Plastics, a formidable South African company specialising in flexible packaging. It has grown from humble beginnings in 1984 as a family-run business to a major industry player with a staff complement of over…