By Reuters Staff1 Min ReadFILE PHOTO: A man walks past an outlet of retailer Woolworths in Cape Town, South Africa, June 19, 2017.... REUTERS/ Mike Hutchings JOHANNESBURG( Reuters)-South African retailer Woolworths Holdings reported on Thursday a 212.5% jump in annual profit, as trade across the group continued to recover from the hard COVID-19 lockdown and resumed dividend payouts. Woolworths, which sells clothes, food and home wares said headline earnings per share( HEP), the main gauge of pr

MARRAKECH, Oct 9( Reuters)-The International Monetary Fund's( IMF) Africa director said on Monday that he was" hopeful" that Zambia and its official creditors would announce a finalised debt restructuring deal before Thursday." We're very hopeful that the authorities and the creditors will be in a position to make an announcement very, very soon," Abebe Selassie told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Marrakech." They've told us that there's bee

By Renju Jose, Byron Kaye3 Min ReadSYDNEY( Reuters)-Australian officials on Friday warned Sydney residents to brace for a surge in COVID-19 cases after the country’s largest city logged record infections for the second straight day despite a weeks-long lockdown to stamp out an outbreak of Delta variant. FILE PHOTO: A lone woman, wearing a protective face mask, walks across an unusually quiet city centre bridge on the first day of a lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a