Star 2021-06-18

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE BUSINESS community yesterday continued to express its collective grief at the unexpected death of former Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza, who succumbed to Covid-19 complications on Wednesday. Tributes poured in yesterday for Mabuza, whose career started from humble beginnings when he operated a taxi business in the 1980s to serving on boards of several JSE-listed companies. The 63-year-old Mabuza later headed one of the country’s most influential lobby groups, Business Unity South Africa (Busa), as its presi- dent. President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed him to serve on the Eskom board in January 2018, and following the resignation of former chief executive Phakamani Hadebe a year later, he played the dual role of chairperson and acting chief executive. However, he quit last January when the embattled utility rolled out…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za TRADE expectations for the next six months in South Africa have remained positive in spite of sentiment among businesses dipping in May as the possibility of stricter lockdown restrictions was fast becoming a reality. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said yesterday that trade conditions declined again in May as uncertainties weighed heavily on almost all elements of trade. Sacci said that its Trade Activity Index (TAI) declined to 36 points in May after improving to 49 points in April. It said the industry experienced lower sales volumes and less new orders, disrupted supplier deliveries, and higher sales prices during the month. Sacci said that fewer backlogs on orders, improved inventory levels and a smaller rise but still high input costs were…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za RETAIL sales surprised on the upside in April, accelarating to near pre-pandemic levels, but experts warned that household consumption could be dampened further by the new stricter lockdown restrictions amid rising Covid-19 cases. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that retail trade jumped 95.8 percent in April from a year earlier, boosted by textiles and clothing. It was the strongest increase in retail activity on record, largely attributed to a low-base effect from last year’s strict lockdown measures which affected non-essential retailers. This followed a downwardly revised 2.3 percent year-on-year decline in March, and below-market expectations of a 99.7 percent rise. StatsSA’s deputy director for distributive trade statistics Raquel Floris said the year-on-year April retail sales growth was from a very low…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za LOAN loss provisioning is expected to fall among the biggest banks in South Africa, Kenya and Morocco, but will remain above long-term averages over the next 12 months, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday. “The drop will boost net profits at these banks, given their solid pre-provision income,” the global credit rating agency said. South African and Kenyan banks were prudent in recognising forward-looking provisions, as required under IFRS 9 rules. Some South African banks took additional provisions to reflect expectations of weak economic conditions, Moody’s said in a report on the 15 biggest banks in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco. “Problem loans have soared at African banks, as the pandemic brought widespread economic disruption. While comparison across systems is imperfect, financial reports show non-performing loans (NPLs)…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za IMPERIAL Logistics shot up 4.17 percent on the JSE yesterday after the listed transport and mobility group said it would build its cold-storage transport capacity through the R633 million acquisition of Deep Catch Namibia. The shares showed a 32 percent gain to a year ago. The price, however, fell back slightly to R49.85 after midday. Deep Catch wholesales, distributes and provides cold storage transport of perishable foods, mainly poultry, fish and dairy products, in Namibia and in the broader Southern Africa region. It employs more than 480 people and serves customers in the wholesale, hospitality and retail sectors. The company has three commercial cold storage warehouses in Namibia and South Africa. The business also owns a majority stake in one of the largest…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za STEINHOFF International Holdings yesterday reported that the Amsterdam District Court had refused to grant the additional requests made by Hamilton for interim measures related to the Settlement of Payments (SoP) claim ana- lysis and voting process, leaving the beleaguered group room to pursue a proposed global settlement and its continuing suspension of payment proceedings. The group said the ruling, which could not be appealed, had been deferred from earlier this month when the court heard the requests made by Hamilton and Lancaster 101, opposing parties on the proposed global settlement Lancaster 101 had withdrawn all its requests in reference to its proposed global settlement. Hamilton, which is seeking R14 billion claims against Steinhoff, separately lodged an appeal against the May 28, 2021, decision…