Star 2021-06-04

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za NASPERS subsidiary Prosus fell 2.5 percent on the JSE to R1 424.33 yesterday in spite of announcing a $1.8 billion (R24.4bn) deal to acquire the online learning company Stack Overflow. The acquisition of the online learning platform for developers and technologists seemed well appreciated by analysts and social media though. But the acquisition failed to stem the downward trend of Naspers and Prosus that started in May, and in spite of generally higher stocks on the JSE that month. Anchor Capital fund management and analyst Mike Gresty said he believed Prosus’s share was down was because Hong Kong-listed Tencent, which comprises 85 percent of the net asset value of Prosus, was down 2.07 percent when the marked closed in Hong Kong, while…

BRITAIN’S Heathrow Airport will use sustainable jet fuel for the first time as part of a test ahead of a Group of Seven rich nations summit in the country next week. The fuel, produced by Finland’s Neste and supplied by oil trader Vitol, is made entirely of renewable and sustainable waste such as cooking oil and animal fat, the airport and companies said in a joint statement yesterday. It cuts greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent compared with regular aviation fuel, they added. Delivery of the green fuel began yesterday and it would be incorporated into the airport’s main fuel supply. The total volume will be the equivalent of 10 short-haul flights. “We are delighted that Heathrow is the first UK major airport to successfully incorporate sustainable…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za S&P GLOBAL ratings agency yesterday warned about South Africa’s rising debt burden and substantial interest payments as risks to the country’s fiscal outlook. In a presentation during a live webinar, S&P lead analyst Ravi Bhatia said the slow progress on the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines and structural reforms would continue to hamper progress. South Africa has inoculated less than 2 percent of the population against Covid-19 while new infections are on the rise in a number of provinces. Bhatia said this would continue to constrain medium-term economic growth and limit the government’s ability to contain the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, in spite of South Africa’s near-term economic performance and current account experiencing a cyclical uplift. South Africa’s gross loan debt is forecast to increase from…

Sustained run sees currency gain 20.1 percent against the greenback over the past 12 months Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE RAND surged to its highest levels in 26 months during early trade yesterday, testing the R13.50-mark against the US dollar on prospects of a global economic recovery. However, the domestic currency retreated slightly and was 0.05 percent higher to R13.60 against the greenback at 5pm after the dollar inched higher following upbeat US jobs numbers Private businesses in the US hired 978 000 workers in May, the highest reading since June 2020 as the labour market continues to recover amid a rapid reopening of the US economy. The positive risk sentiment on the rand had kept the greenback on the back foot and saw US bond yields decline before…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE SOUTH African economy continued to grow at a solid pace in May despite the rate of expansion in private sector business performance slowing slightly from April’s recent peak. The IHS Markit purchasing managers index (PMI), released yesterday, edged down to 53.2 points in May from a record high of 53.7 points in April, however, this was the second-highest since November 2012. IHS Markit said surveyed businesses reported a solid increase in output in May, with the rate of growth one of the quickest recorded since data collection began in 2011. It said confidence towards future output remained robust in May, growing at the second-quickest rate since October 2014 and was the second-highest in more than three years. IHS Markit said firms were largely…

Ahmore Burger-Smidt PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has just signed the Cybercrimes Bill, which seeks to bring South Africa’s cybersecurity laws in line with the rest of the world, into law. The bill, which is now an Act of Parliament, creates offences for and criminalises, among others, the disclosure of data messages which are harmful. Examples of such data messages include: n Those which incite violence or damage to property. n Those which threaten persons with violence or damage to property. n Those which contain an intimate image. Other offences include cyberfraud, forgery, extortion and theft of incorporeal property. The unlawful and intentional access of a computer system or computer data storage medium is also considered an offence, along with the unlawful interception of, or interference with, data.…