Star 2021-08-24

DINEO FAKU dineo.faku@inl.co.za SHOPRITE is planning to withdraw from the Uganda and Madagascar markets, it said yesterday after announcing an 8.1 percent increase in total merchandise sales from continuing operations to R168 billion for the 53 weeks ended July 2021. Shoprite, Africa’s retail giant, is adding to its list of exits after selling its Nigerian business of 15 years and closing Kenyan stores in March. “In line with the group’s non-RSA review process, our operations in Madagascar and Uganda have been classified as discontinued,” said Shoprite. The group operates 10 stores in Madagascar and has five branches in Uganda, employing 300 Ugandans. Commenting on the exit, Peter Hirst, senior analyst at Euromonitor International, said Shoprite was leaving Uganda in line with the company’s review of its long-term ventures…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za THE FINANCIAL Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) yesterday suspended the exchange licence of ZAR X, effective from late Friday afternoon, due to the exchange not meeting liquidity and capital adequacy requirements. ZAR X trades the listed stocks of Agribel group, Dale Capital Group, Orion Real Estate, Runway Property Group, Senwes, Transformational Investment Portfolio One, and TWK Investments, its website showed. Etienne Nel, co-founder and chief executive of the exchange said that the timing of the suspension was unfortunate. However, the exchange considered the suspension to be temporary and it posed no risk to issuers or investors who held their assets in their own name directly at Strate. He said ZAR X had lodged an appeal against the FSCA decision. FSCA commissioner Unathi Kamlana said in a…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za Prosus’s share price slipped 1.38 percent to close at R1 210 yesterday after hitting a high of R1 257 in intraday trade as the company announced a year-long $5 billion (R76bn) share buy-back programme. The tech investor commenced an on-market share repurchase programme of its ordinary shares from its free-float shareholders following its massive share-swop deal with parent company, Naspers. It said this was in support of delivering the overall benefits of the Prosus voluntary share exchange offer to unlock value for Naspers ordinary shareholders. Last week, Naspers completed a R145bn share-swop deal with Prosus to rebalance their weighting on a number of indices on the JSE, leading to delayed reopening of trading on the local bourse on Wednesday. The share swop resulted in…

GIVEN MAJOLA given.majola@inl.co.za A WHOPPING 81.5 percent of professionals in the accounting, data analysis, human resources and IT fields are considering resigning from their jobs to go freelance, according to a survey by the online talent platform Outsized. The survey, conducted by the provider of on-demand freelancers and independent consultants to the financial services and management consulting industries in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, found that a quarter of its 200 respondents said that they were already in the process of taking that leap. Of these, 37 percent saw it happening in the next few weeks or months, and only 10 percent admitted it was more of a long-term fantasy. The survey respondents were well-qualified to succeed independently, with every respondent holding a university degree and 64 percent having…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za WORKFORCE Holdings, a provider of employment, training and wellness services, said yesterday that it expects a pick up in the demand for labour contracting as it swung back to profitability during the six months ended June 2021 in line with the rebounding economy. Chief executive Ronny Katz said the level 4 lockdown and the current level 3 of the Covid-19 pandemic had affected the economy and the business, and had created a stop-start situation, which inevitably would affect the results of their investments. “Workforce believes that the third wave is being contained and as a result business activity will reach levels higher than the 2020 financial year. “We foresee a reinvigoration of the permanent placement industry, coupled with a change in emphasis in the areas in which…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE TOURISM industry in June continued making gains from last year’s Covid-19-induced lockdown effects, but the momentum of the recovery slightly slowed due to restrictions. Data from Statistics SA (StatsSA) yesterday showed that income for tourist accommodation increased by 1 012.4 percent in June. This was a significant rise compared with the same month a year ago when the country was on a complete lockdown level 5, enabling low statistical base effects to boost the June reading. In June, all accommodation types recorded large positive year-on-year growth in income from accommodation. The largest increases were reported by caravan parks and camping sites and guest houses and guest farms. Hotel occupancy rates, which make up the largest portion of the tourist accommodation sector, fell to 21.7…