Star 2021-06-11

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za AS THE GOVERNMENT prepares to launch a Steel Master Plan to improve the competitiveness of the industry, downstream fabricators and manufacturers have called for the relaxation of tariffs to help them stay afloat. Marketing manager at Duferco Steel Processing, Nico Van Wyk, said for the industry to become competitive, the downstream suppliers had to be the focus of the government’s efforts to revive it. Van Wyk said the 18 percent duties on hot rolled coils steel was squeezing the downstream steel sector. He said Duferco, which competes with South Africa’s primary steel producer ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa), relies on hot rolled coil imports to sustain its export market. “The government does allow us to import hot roll coils, convert them, and export them without paying duties,” Van Wyk…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za MANUFACTURING output in South Africa has yet to stabilise to a strong recovery after surging at a record pace year-on-year in April, but still fell in comparison to the previous month. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that production rose by a record increase of 87.9 percent in April compared to the same month last year. Production plummeted -48.7 percent in April last year when rigorous level 5 measures were imposed to curb the infection rate. This year’s April production print was not far from market expectations of 88.3 percent year-on-year from low base effects from last year when production was restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown. StatsSA’s director of industry statistics Nicolai Claassen said all manufacturing divisions recorded…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday announced that independent power producers (IPPs) would now be allowed to generate up to 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Ramaphosa said the government approved the amendment of Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act for the energy sector, increasing the licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100MW. The business industry has been calling for the government to increase the threshold on embedded power generation from 1MW to 50MW. North West Business School economist Professor Raymond Parsons said while the intervention would not offer immediate relief with load-shedding, it would help to lay a solid foundation for future power security. “The government now recognises the extent to which the failure of Eskom to guarantee electricity supply has posed the most…

SUPER Group expects headline earnings a share to between 248 to 303 cents for the year to June 30, 2021, representing an increase of 64 to 100 percent over the previous year, the group said in a trading update yesterday. Revenue was expected to be R36.8 billion to R43.8 billion, an increase of 6.4 to 26.5 percent over the previous year. Operating profit was expected to increase by between 20.8 to 46.5 percent. Revenue reflected strong sales performances in Fleet Solutions and Dealerships UK in particular. The historically underperforming South African consumer and convenience businesses and the European supply chain operations continue to show significant financial improvement. Cash generated from operations had been good. All capital projects that were delayed as a result of the lockdowns in South Africa…

Steinhoff Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steinhoff International Holdings, said yesterday that it expected headline earnings per ordinary share for the six months to March 31 to be 4 600 to 5 400 cents compared to the headline loss per share of 23 716.3c in the previous period. Earnings per ordinary share were expected to be between 4 500 and 5 000c per share compared to the loss per ordinary share of 24 187.2c in the previous corresponding period. Steinhoff Investments financial results for the six months ended March 31 this year are expected to be released on or about June 18. |…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE FOSCHINI Group (TFG) has recognised a R2.7 billion non-cash impairment in its UK business because of worsened risk after regulations to stop the spread of Covid-19 resulted in the business losing half of its trading hours. TFG, the owner of retail outlets including the recently acquired Jet stores, Foschini and Markham, swung to an annual loss of R719.2 million in the year to the end of March, from an operating profit of R4.7bn a year earlier. The non-cash impairment at TFG London followed the reassessment of the carrying values of goodwill and intangible assets, as the business was hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. TFG said that it had decided it would be prudent not to declare a final dividend at this year-end…