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Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za PEPKOR Holdings has managed to reduce its debt more than 60 percent after it flagged that its profits would grow by more than double digits in the six months to the end of March on strong trading performance despite volatile operating conditions as a result of Covid-19. Pepkor said it had reduced its net debt to R6.1 billion from R14.1bn to last year, due to its strong cash generation. It said it expected its headline earnings per share (Heps) from continuing operations to increase at least 9.1 cents or 20 percent from 45.6c last year and earnings per share (Eps) to shoot up 8.8c or 20 percent from 43.8c reported a year earlier. “The increase in Eps and Heps is attri- buted to strong trading…
Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE PALLINGHURST Group is going through the end of an era after co-founder and chairperson Brian Gilbertson resigned after 15 years at the helm. The London-headquartered private equity and battery materials investor announced that Gilbertson, who founded the group in 2006, would step down alongside Arne H Frandsen and Andrew Willis. It said Gilbertson’s distinguished 50-year career created several mining champions and reshaped the global natural resources industry forever. Frandsen said his first job after law school, some 27 years ago, was as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs, and his first client was Gilbertson, whose leadership and trailblazing at Rustenburg Platinum, Gencor, Billiton, BHP Billiton, Rusal, Vedanta and Pallinghurst cemented his position as one of the truly greats of the mining industry. “When we created Pallinghurst…
Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za COPPER prices are at decade-high levels as speedy vaccination roll-outs and hefty economic stimulus packages lift hopes for an economic recovery and higher demand for metals. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was down at $9 758.20 (R139 805) a ton in official trading after reaching $9 965 on Tuesday, the highest since 2011 as port workers in Chile called for a strike a day earlier. The price of copper, which is used in electric equipment such as wiring, has more than doubled since March 2020 as the world economy rebounds and the shift to greener, more copper intensive energy raises the prospect of supply shortages. Errol Smart, chief executive and managing director of Orion Minerals, which operates the Prieska Copper-Zinc Project in…
Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za MANGO will today resume flying, albeit for only a couple of days, after hundreds of passengers were left stranded yesterday after the airline’s flights were abruptly grounded. Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) yesterday suspended the low-cost carrier from using its airports countrywide due to outstanding debt. Acsa spokesperson Gopolang Peme said Mango’s suspension had since been lifted with immediate effect following the negotiations between the two entities. Peme did not disclose how much Mango owed to the airports operator, saying the details of the terms and conditions “remain confidential” as per their contracts. “The airline has made part payment today (yesterday) towards the amount owed to Acsa for landing fees, parking fees and passenger service charges,” Peme said. “The airline has made further undertakings to settle the…
Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za ALLIED Electronics Corporation (Altron) yesterday warned that its full-year earnings were likely to fall as much as 29 percent, partly because of poor economic activity and the trading restrictions put in place to limit the impact of Covid-19. As a result, Altron said in a trading update, it expected its headline earnings per share (Heps) for the year to the end of February to decline by between 21 percent and 29 percent, to between 124 cents and 137c a share, down from the restated figure of 174c reported a year earlier. However, its basic earnings per share (Eps) were likely to reflect an increase of more than 100 percent, to between 3 256c and 3 270c, compared with the restated Eps…
Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa’s real take-home pay increased by just 0.7 percent in March, with the average salary reaching R15 092 in nominal terms and R12 749 in real terms. The BankservAfrica Take- home Pay Index (BTPI) for March released yesterday showed that average salaries were returning to their pre-Covid trend. BankServAfrica said the number of employees in the broader payment system of formal employers from larger companies has recovered fast as the economy has reopened. It said the growth in March 2021 came off the low base from March 2020 when the country was placed under a hard lockdown. When the hard lockdown began, the BTPI reported a drop in the number of payments made to daily and weekly workers. But now the year-on-year change came…
