Star SW-2021-04-15

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za EOH HOLDINGS yesterday said it had managed to reduce its half-year loss by 83 percent as it continued to clean up an image tarnished by problematic legacy contracts that almost brought the company to its knees. The information technology group said it made significant progress in closing out the contracts and five of the eight that were in the public sector had been settled. It said one of the contracts was ceded to a subcontractor with settlement currently in arbitration, another would conclude at the end of the month while the last had been terminated with handover discussions currently underway. Chief executive Stephen van Coller said the company restored its reputation by appearing before the Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s Commission of inquiry into state capture in…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@in.co.za THE RAND rallied against most emerging market currencies yesterday, rising 0.66 percent to R14.41 against the dollar after February’s retail sales data showed rising activity. The buying power of shoppers surprised in February as retail trade sales unexpectedly rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier, scaling up from an upwardly revised 3.7 percent contraction in January better than the market expectation of a 1.9 percent slump. The rand has appreciated more than 1.10 percent against the dollar since Monday. FXTM’s Lukman Otunuga said the positive data print was likely to boost appetite for the rand, which was already experiencing a positive week. “Should the risk-on remain the name of the game for the rest of the trading week and the dollar extends…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za TRADE conditions in South Africa have turned more positive following a meaningful improvement in March after the lockdown in December dampened trade. Sacci said that the sentiment had improved significantly from a year ago, with the Trade Expectations Index (TEI) increasing by not less than 13 index points a year ago. The pro-business lobby group said the lockdown process had an adverse effect on business and a number of regular respondents went out of business. It said the restrictions gave way to a more optimistic outlook in February and March. Sacci chief executive Alan Mukoki said the improvement of trade conditions was in all the elements of trade, particularly sales volumes and new orders. The six-month expectations on components such as sales, orders, supplies and inventories…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za ZEDER Investments’ share price leapt by more than 9 percent on the JSE yesterday morning after the agri-investment company said it had received approaches from third parties regarding some of its portfolio of investments. Zeder is considering the approaches following its overall strategic review after the disposal of its Pioneer Foods and Quantum Foods shareholdings last year, and the group was engaging with certain of these parties. Chief executive Johann le Roux said the board was evaluating these approaches. “We will communicate in more detail to the market on the value-enhancing progress, as may be required from time to time. “The strategy does not have a specific time line and will be executed in an appropriate and responsible manner in an attempt to maximise shareholder value.…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za SIBANYE-Stillwater, the world’s leading platinum group metals (PGMs) producer, has revised Lonmin’s historic broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) structure as the wave of strong prices continues to boost the fortunes of the Marikana operations. Sibanye, which took over bankrupt Lonmin in 2019, said under the new structure, Marikana empowerment shareholders would benefit from a 10 percent trickle dividend in spite of inter-company debt as well as the creation of a sustainable empowerment structure for Marikana. Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted said the Marikana B-BBEE shareholders were getting no financial benefit for their shareholding prior to the restructuring and now would be getting economic benefits. “We have restructured the amount of money owed by the B-BBEE group in agreement with them and we agreed on a fair value…

HULAMIN said yesterday that the Covid-19 outbreak caused a major disruption in its operations as sales volumes declined by 24 percent to 166 000 tons in the year to end December. However, the group said the London Metals Exchange price of aluminium, which mainly affects working capital and metal price lag, was stronger during the period, climbing to $2 018 (R29 375) a ton, up from $1 770 a ton a year earlier and the rand price of aluminium rose by 18 percent by the end of 2020. But group turnover fell by 20 percent to R8.55 billion, while its headline loss improved to R210 million compared to R240m reported last year. Chief executive Richard Jacob said the group faced strong…