Business News Leaders

PSA urges PIC to sell its Eskom debt

The Public Servants Association says that it wants the Public Investment Corporation to stop investing in the debt of Eskom as it exposes pensioners to excessive risk as the state-owned power company is not selling enough electricity to cover its costs and has had to be bailed out by the…

3 Jun 2019 2AM 8 min

Mantashe appointed Minister of Minerals and Energy

Although the mining industry has welcomed the return of Minister Gwede Mantashe to the mineral resources portfolio, the decision to merge it with energy has sparked unease. Energy analyst Chris Yelland has commented that the expansion of Mantashe’s portfolio could bring huge disruptions to South Africa’s energy policy. Yelland joined…

31 May 2019 2AM 8 min

Stefanutti Stocks mulls share issue after cash balance falls

South Africa's construction industry has been hobbled in recent years by a lack of infrastructure spending, tepid economic growth and slow payments from the private and public sectors and Stefanutti Stocks' annual results lay this picture bare. For the full year, it's reported a net loss of R111m and to…

30 May 2019 2AM 8 min

Ramaphosa keeps his clean-up team in key cabinet posts

On Wednesday evening President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a reduced executive, with a few changes within the economic cluster. Including the merger of Trade and Industry with Economic Development. Ramaphosa's "clean-up" team have still kept their cabinet posts as Tito Mboweni retains his finance minster title and Pravin Gordhan still heading…

30 May 2019 2AM 6 min

Hedging losses hurt Life Healthcare's interim net pfofit

Hedging losses have dealt a blow to Life Healthcare's interim profit with headline earnings per share falling back close to 50%. This was partly due to a R370m fair-value loss on derivative financial instruments including mark-to-market loss on foreign-exchange option contracts which were taken out to protect the proceeds of…

30 May 2019 2AM 7 min

Nampak not ready to pay dividends as Zim currency crisis persists

Nampak says the past six months were challenging for a number of its key businesses. Profit from continuing operations fell by 9% due to currency volatility issues and weaker economic growth prospects on the continent, with the exception of Nigeria. Business Day TV sat down with Nampak CEO Andre de…

30 May 2019 2AM 7 min

Will Ramaphosa's new cabinet revive SA's economy?

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a reduced executive, with Tito Mboweni returning as finance minister and Pravin Gordhan in the public enterprises portfolio. The executive has been cut to 28 ministries and a number of portfolios have been merged. Business Day TV spoke to Lumkile Mondi, Senior Lecturer at the…

30 May 2019 2AM 8 min

Famous Brands resumes dividend payments

Famous Brands has reported a 19% slide in annual headline earnings per share and a basic loss per share of 480c largely due to impairments relating to the group's struggling Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) unit. But Famous Brands is hopeful that the situation at GBK is turning around. In the…

29 May 2019 2AM 9 min

Vukile gears up for growth in SA and Spain

Vukile Property Fund has delivered 7.5% growth in annual dividends. In a statement, the property company noted that its impressive set of results reflects the significant benefits of its growing international diversification and value-adding asset management in Spain. Vukile CEO Laurence Rapp added that the past 12 months had been…

29 May 2019 2AM 7 min

Suspended Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo denies wrongdoing

Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo says his suspension from the company relates to a disagreement over how the company should engage with investment firm NMT Capital, which he founded. Moyo, who previously served as CEO of NMT Capital and remains a nonexecutive director, said the relationship between the companies had…

29 May 2019 2AM 5 min

African Bank says deposits surged in six months to March

African Bank says its had 'another successful six month period'. That's as retail customer deposits more than doubled during the period to R1.5bn. Net customer advances balance lifted to R19.2bn from R19bn. The bank’s credit impairment charge for the period fell to R970m from R1.7bn a year before. However, profit…

28 May 2019 2AM 7 min

Shareholders support Sibanye-Stillwater's takover of Lonmin

Shareholders have given the thumbs up to Sibanye-Stillwaters takeover of Lonmin. 89% of Sibanye's investors gave the deal the nod of approval. While there was a 98.9% vote in favour of the transaction at Lonmin's shareholder meeting. This is despite calls from some analysts for Lonmin's largest shareholder, the Public…

28 May 2019 2AM 6 min

Cartrack cuts dividend as it plans to invest for growth

Cartrack has cut its final dividend for the year to end-February, despite higher profits, as it plans to “invest for growth”. The company's subscriber base grew 28% to 960,798 in the year, helping it lift profit after tax by 16.3% to R361m. But Cartrack cut its final gross dividend to…

28 May 2019 2AM 6 min

Telkom beats annual profit expectations

Telkom has reported an 8.5% rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) to R11.3bn. According to Bloomberg data, analysts expected ebitda of R10.9bn. Profit after tax rose 11.5% to R3.3bn and the group said it will pay a final ordinary dividend of 249c, taking the full-year dividend…

27 May 2019 2AM 9 min

Ramaphosa to announce a leaner cabinet later this week - Presidency

It was widely speculated that President Ramaphosa would have announced his cabinet by now but it appears that he may need more time to apply his mind given the factions within the party, issues around the announcement of a Deputy President and Minister Gordhan's showdown with the Public Protector while…

27 May 2019 2AM 5 min

Who will Ramaphosa pick for his new cabinet?

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce his cabinet this weekend, most likely with a number of significant changes. That's as he plans to merge departments as a way to cut back on ministries and as a result most deputy minister positions are likely to be axed. Business Day TV…

24 May 2019 3AM 6 min

South Africa's Reserve Bank has kept interest rates on hold

As widely expected, the South African Reserve Bank kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.75%, as it contends with a weak economy and lower inflation. The bank's also lowered its 2019 growth forecast to 1%, citing weak business and consumer confidence, as well as growing pressure on household disposable income…

23 May 2019 2AM 8 min

Higher iron ore prices boost Afrimat's full-year earnings

Afrimat's delivered double digit growth in full year earnings, partly fueled by higher iron-ore prices , which helped offset a poor showing from its construction-materials division. Afrimat CFO Pieter de Wit provides more insight into the performance.

23 May 2019 2AM 4 min

SA's 6th parliament takes shape as MPs are sworn in

Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected as president of South Africa following the first sitting of the National Assembly. This comes after ANC deputy president David Mabuza took the decision to postpone his swearing-in, following the integrity commission's report naming him as one of those who had possibly brought the party…

22 May 2019 2AM 7 min

April inflation slows to 4.4%

South African consumers have tightened their purse strings. That's as April's inflation rate came in at 4.4% year-on-year, falling just below the midpoint of the SARB's target range for the first time in 3 months.Nedbank Senior Economist Nicky Weimer joined Business Day TV with her views on where inflation is…

22 May 2019 2AM 7 min