Star 2021-04-30

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za AYO Technology Solutions said it was disappointed after its application in the Gauteng High Court to contest First National Bank’s recent notice to suspend the firm’s banking facilities would not be heard on an urgent basis, following a court ruling yesterday. Despite being fully aware of AYO’s public image, which has been tarnished by the media through a series of factually inaccurate articles since March 2018, FNB still opened an account for AYO in October 2020. The bank however waited until mid-February 2021 to pull the plug on AYO’s account, citing reputational risk to the financial institution. FNB intends to stop providing banking services to the JSE’s-largest black-owned and managed ICT investment group from May 3. FNB had claimed that an investment transaction between AYO and…

PRODUCER prices for final manufactured goods in South Africa climbed to an almost two-year high in March, driven by food, beverages and tobacco products. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that annual producer price inflation (PPI) increased by 5.2 percent in March, up from 4 percent in February. StatsSA said this was the largest annual rise in headline PPI since June 2019, when the rate was 5.8 percent, and was above market expectations of 4.5 percent. Food products, beverages and tobacco products went up by 6.8 percent year-on-year. Coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products rose by 4.2 percent, while metals, machinery, equipment and computing equipment increased by 5.2 percent over the same period. On a monthly basis, producer prices inched…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za WHILE 65 percent of all middle managers in banking were black, surpassing the number of white middle managers for the first time in 2019, according to the 2020 Transformation in Banking Report, more needed to be done to reflect the demographics of the country, Banking Association South Africa (Basa) said yesterday. Basa said the report – produced by independent research company Intellidex, with statistics provided by the banks – reflected the progress made by banks in transforming the industry and increasing economic inclusiveness and empowerment despite the constrained economic conditions. The percentage of board directors who were black reached 44 percent in 2019. “These industry figures were achieved despite the difficult economic and business conditions that South African banks and companies have had to endure…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za TONGAAT Hulett’s share price tumbled by more than 27 percent on the JSE after the troubled sugar producer and agri-processing company said yesterday that it had amended its debt reduction milestone to prevent a default. The share plunged to a low of R7.55, ending up closing the day 22.8 percent lower at R7.99. Tongaat was rocked by an accounting scandal in 2019 and an investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that some of its former executives were responsible for overstating assets and profits by using “undesirable accounting practices”. The group implemented a turnaround strategy under chief executive Gavin Hudson, but a huge debt of around R13bn has remained a sore thumb for the group. Tongaat said yesterday it paid debt reduction proceeds of R6.01 billion to…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za LONDON and JSE-listed Jubilee Metals said yesterday that it had delivered the first copper concentrate from the Jubilee Sable Refinery at Project Roan ahead of schedule. Project Roan is the first of three processing plants that Jubilee aims to construct in order to recover copper and cobalt in these facilities, with the target of 25 000 tons of copper a year. At full capacity, Project Roan is expected to recover 10 000 tons of copper equivalent a year. Chief executive Leon Coetzer said the successful delivery on time of copper concentrate from Project Roan to the fully operational Sable Refinery was the first major step in the group’s commitment to achieve its targeted production of 25 000 tons of copper a year within the…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za PETROCHEMICALS giant Sasol expects a jump in earnings for the year ended June 2021 despite hurricanes disrupting its US-based chemicals business during the nine months ended March 2021 and as oil prices recovered. Sasol, which operates Secunda Syn- fuels in Mpumalanga, ended trade 0.17 percent lower and closed at R250.89 after flagging that its headline earnings a share would improve by at least 20 percent for the year ended June 2021 compared with the headline loss a share of R11.79 a year earlier. Earnings a share were also expected to improve by 20 percent in the year ended June 2021 compared with the loss per share of R147.45 recorded in the year ended June 2020. Sasol was rocked by record low oil prices as…