Star 2021-11-03

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za BUSINESS activity in the manufacturing industry is expected to rebound in the next six months as the steel workers’ strike and a return to load shedding weighed on activity in October. The seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released yesterday, fell further to 53.6 points in October from a downwardly revised 54.7 points in September. However, the PMI remained in expansionary territory for a third consecutive month at above 50 points which separates growth from contraction. Absa said the business activity and new sales orders indices lost the most ground in October, as was the case in September. Absa economist Miyelani Maluleke said supplier delivery lead times and purchasing prices remained elevated in October, highlighting the continued pervasive impact of global bottleneck…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za JOHANNESBURG-BASED Net 1 UEPS Technologies is acquiring the Connect Group for R3.7 billion as part of a transformation into South Africa’s leading fintech platform, offering payment processing and financial services to under-served merchants and consumers. Net 1 jumped 21.74 percent to R100 late yesterday afternoon on the JSE as the market reacted positively to the transaction. Chief executive Chris Meyer said the transaction was part of efforts by the new management and board to turn the company around from a cash logistics business to a fully-fledged and profitable financial services platform. He said too often its target market was under-served, neglected and overlooked and acquiring Connect Group advances the group’s mission of financial inclusion by bringing 44 000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE rand fell to an eight-month low yesterday as the combination of lower commodity prices, the resumption of rotational power cuts and an unprecedented petrol price hike put the skids on the risk sentiment in the markets. The domestic currency fell to R15.49 to the US dollar during the day, its lowest since March 8, as data confirmed that the standard of living was set to cost even more for consumers ahead of the festive season. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) announced on Monday night that the price of petrol (both 93 and 95 ULP and LRP) will increase by R1.21 a litre and diesel by R1.48 a litre from today. The DMRE said this increase was driven up by record high Brent crude…

IT HAS BEEN shown empirically that the economic benefits of increasing public investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) is overwhelmingly strong. Thus the argument sometimes presented as to whether it makes sense to increase, or at least maintain, public investment in agricultural R&D has been rendered a moot point. Yet, South Africa and other developing countries’ governments continue to decrease public investment on this important and economically sound area of the economy. Other neighbouring countries have completely neglected investment in agricultural R&D, leading to the inevitable collapse of their agricultural sectors and increasing vulnerability to food insecurity. South Africa should see this apparent decline in neighbouring countries in the South African Development Community regional bloc as an opportunity to supply both agricultural technologies and inputs. Much attention over the…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za OCTODEC Investments’ taxed distri- butable income fell by 14.1 percent after the relief it granted to tenants who couldn’t pay rent, due to lockdown restrictions, and negative rental reversions resulted in lower rental income in the year to August 31. Managing director Jeffrey Wapnick, who has been managing Octodec since 1998 on behalf of his family, who control 39 percent of the shares, said in an interview yesterday that he was planning for succession of the management of the company, and they were in the process of establishing an executive team. The company, which owns 267 properties in the Johannesburg and Tshwane CBD, said rental income from the residential sector and specialised sectors fell 10.6 percent and 15.4 percent respectively, due to the…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za MASSMART said yesterday it would pay R650 million out of its own pocket after the looting in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng in July was not fully recovered from its insurance cover. Massmart, owners of Game, Makro and Builders Warehouse, estimated that the total replacement cost for property and stock damages as a result of the civil unrest to be R2.5 billion, of which R1.3bn relates to inventory losses. The group said this material impact was mainly due to two Makro stores, in Pietermaritzburg and Springfield, and two distribution centres (DC) in KZN, Riverhorse and Cato Ridge, being looted and severely damaged. The Makro store in Pietermaritzburg and the Riverhorse DC were completely destroyed by arson. “The group does have South African Special Risk Insurance…