Star 2021-07-29

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE SHARE prices of JSE tech stock leaders Naspers and Prosus yesterday recouped some of the massive losses they incurred over the previous two days, which were spurred by China’s clampdown on private sector online education, which affected their biggest investment, internet group Tencent. By midday yesterday, Naspers, which owns 29 percent of Tencent, traded 3.8 percent higher at R2 643.50 on the JSE, while subsidiary Prosus, with its main listing in Amsterdam, traded 3.4 percent higher at R1 226.85 on its secondary listed market. The share prices of both companies had slumped more than 7 percent on Monday and on Tuesday, respectively. The shares closed yesterday at R2 747.44 and R1 267.62. The accelerating slide in Tencent’s share price meant its…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za DUBAI-based MultiChoice chief executive Calvo Mawela was compensated with a $2.62 million (R38.8m) package for the year 2021, up from $1.59m a year earlier as he benefited from bonuses and incentives, the group said in its 2021 integrated annual report. Mawela took home a $646 000 base salary – up from $571 000 a year earlier – his pension was increased to $78 000 from $67 000 in 2020 and his benefits contracted to $181 000 from $227 000 in the previous year. He was rewarded with $993 000 in short-term and medium-term incentives, up from $726 000 a year with the short term incentive benefit reflecting the bonus paid based on the performance of the relevant financial year. “During…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za TAXES from corporate South Africa have come to the aid of the government and prevented the country from approaching international lenders for borrowings to finance its large economic recovery package. The National Treasury yesterday presented a R36.2 billion socio-economic relief package to boost activity after civil unrest earlier this month left destruction costing the economy nearly R50bn. Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane said that there would be no additional borrowing to fund this fiscal package, allaying any possible credit ratings concerns over widening debt. Mogajane said the package will be funded by reprioritising the funding of existing budgets of the departments of trade and industry and small business development, as well as revenue overrun. “We are not going to be borrowing at all. This is not in…

The CHINESE government is flexing its muscle against consumer techno- logy companies and South Africans are affected. It started with just Ant Financial, Jack Ma’s company, and now almost all Chinese consumer techno- logy companies are under the scrutiny of the Chinese government, including Tencent, a company which is partly owned by South African founded technology giant, Naspers. It is the Naspers exposure to Tencent that should worry South Africans, here’s why. Tencent shares have plummeted by more than 16 percent since the Chinese government ordered the company to cease all exclusive music streaming rights and licensing deals with record labels globally. Last Saturday, the Chinese technology giant was also fined 500 000 yuan (about R1.138bn) by authorities, following an official investigation that found that the company…

Modern-day directors have a vital but difficult job to do. They will succeed only if they have the right directorial skills and keep those up to date. One just has to open any news site these days to read about some or other corporate/financial/governance failure involving public and private sectors alike. Many internal and external factors are involved when an organisation runs into headwinds, but one can confidently state that a common thread is a board that is performing below par. Here, again, there are many factors that could be contributing to suboptimal board performance. Among them are the skill of the chairperson, the independence of the board members, the quality of the relationships on the board, the appositeness of the board packs and the time board members take to…

AECI raises its interim cash dividend payout by 80% EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za CHEMICAL group AECI’s profit from operations increased 70 percent to R948 million in the six months to June 30 after it proved resilient through the Covid-19-related effects on its many markets around the world, chief executive Mark Dytor said yesterday. This followed a 5 percent rise in revenue to R11.8 billion. Foreign and export revenue made up 43 percent of total revenue. Headline earnings per share was up 120 percent to R5.29. Gearing fell to 27 percent from 32 percent. Dytor said the group benefited from the diversity of the sectors in which it operates: water, agriculture, mining and infrastructure, while the benefits of restructuring also began to be felt.…