Media release                                                                                                  24 November 2016

Annual financial statistics, 2015 

The total annual turnover of private sector businesses operating in the South African economy[1] increased by 5,5% between 2014 and 2015, from a revised R7,8 trillion in 2014 to an estimated R8,3 trillion in 2015, according to the latest Annual financial statistics, 2015 report released by Statistics South Africa today. Turnover increased across all industries covered by the survey between 2014 and 2015, with the largest percentage increase in turnover recorded for forestry and fishing at 13,7%. This was followed by ‘community, social and personal services industry (excluding government and educational institutions)’ (9,6%), electricity, gas and water supply (8,8%), manufacturing (6,2%), ‘activities auxiliary to financial intermediation, real estate and other business services (excluding financial intermediation, insurance, pension funding and business services not elsewhere classified)’ (5,7%), trade (5,6%), and construction (5,3%). Turnover in mining and quarrying, and transport, storage and communication industries grew the least with 3,0% and 2,7% respectively.

The trade industry contributed more than a third of the total turnover received by all industries in 2015, with 36,3% of all turnover attributable to this industry. The second largest industry by turnover in 2015 was manufacturing (contributing 28,4% of total industry turnover), followed by ‘activities auxiliary to financial intermediation, real estate and other business services (excluding financial intermediation, insurance, pension funding and business services not elsewhere classified)’ (9,3%), transport, storage and communication (9,2%), mining and quarrying (6,5%) and construction (5,1%). The following industries contributed the least to total turnover of private sector enterprises in 2015: ‘community, social and personal services (excluding government and educational institutions)’ (2,5%), electricity, gas and water supply (2,3%), and forestry and fishing (0,3%).

The estimated total income of all industries for 2015 was R8,7 trillion, a large proportion of which was turnover (R8,3 trillion). The largest contributor to the total income of South African private sector enterprises, other than turnover, was ‘profit on financial and other assets’ (which includes disposal of assets, realisation for cash and revaluation of assets) with R110,0 billion, followed by ‘other’ income (R104,8 billion), interest received (R78,9 billion), and dividends (R55,5 billion).

Profit on foreign transactions resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates (R27,3 billion) and subsidies and incentives received from Government (R23,4 billion) also contributed notably to the total income of private sector business in 2015. Royalties, franchise fees, copyright, trade names, trademarks and patent rights contributed R10,5 billion to the total income of private sector enterprises.

Total expenditure by private sector enterprises in all industries covered by the survey increased by 5,2%, from R7,8 trillion in 2014 to R8,2 trillion in 2015. Purchases (R5,0 trillion or 60,5%) and employment costs (R1,1 trillion or 13,6%) were the largest contributors to total expenditure in 2015.

Between 2014 and 2015, employment costs of private sector enterprises increased by 7,3% to R1,1 trillion in 2015, from R1 trillion in 2014. Transport, storage and communication reported the largest increase (11,0%) in employee-related expenditure, followed by manufacturing (9,0%), activities auxiliary to financial intermediation, real estate and other business services (9,0%), community, social and personal services (7,9%), forestry and fishing (7,3%), trade (5,9%), construction (4,3%) and mining and quarrying (3,1%).

Net profit before providing for company tax and dividends decreased by 3,1% to R539,5 billion in 2015, from R556,6 billion in 2014. Company tax paid or provided for during the financial year increased by 3,1% from R139,5 billion in 2014 to R143,9 billion in 2015. Similarly, dividends paid or provided for during the financial year increased from R160,8 billion in 2014 to R170,2 billion in 2015, representing an increase of 5,8% in dividends. However, the net profit after providing for company tax and dividends declined by 12,0% year-on-year, from R256,2 billion in 2014 to R225,4 billion in 2015.