Star 2021-12-22

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za COMMUNITY, environmental and human rights groups have filed leave to appeal the High Court’s ruling that had found there was no reasonable apprehension that Shell’s seismic blasting off the Wild Coast would cause irreparable harm. The Border Deep Sea Angling Association, the Kei Mouth Ski Boat Club, Natural Justice and Greenpeace Africa, who lost their application for an urgent interdict to stop Shell’s seismic blasting earlier in December, are appealing because this is an issue of substantial public importance. “They believe there are reasonable prospects of an appeal court finding: that Shell did not undertake the consultations which its own environmental management programme obliged it to take, that the risks of harm to marine life are real and not speculative, and that there was a reasonable apprehension…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE JURY IS out on the price of chicken, South Africa’s most accessible source of protein, after the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) implemented additional provisional tariffs up to June 2022 on poultry imports from Brazil, Spain, Ireland, Poland and Denmark. Itac has implemented provisional anti-dumping duties against Brazil (up to 265.1 percent), Ireland (up to 158.4 percent), Poland (up to 96.9 percent), Denmark (up to 158.42 percent), and Spain (up to 85 percent) with immediate effect. The duties will remain in place until June 2022 as Itac investigates the extent of dumping and may implement these duties permanently. While the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) and advocacy group FairPlay have lauded the move to protect local producers, the Association of Meat…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za STRUGGLING retailer Massmart yesterday flagged a decline in sales for the 48 weeks ended November 2021 and said parent Walmart had agreed to optimise its balance sheet following the looting in July. Owing to the civil unrest, Massmart incurred a full charge to the income statement for losses in the 2021 financial year, while a material portion of insurance proceeds was only likely to be settled in 2022, it said. The group said the optimisation of the balance sheet involved replacing R2 billion of a R4bn loan by subscribing for a perpetual fixed rate unsecured note. Walmart loaned Massmart R4bn last year to weather the Covid-19 pandemic. Massmart said the note would bear interest at 7.25 percent initially, and included an interest step-up of 225…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa has lost its seat on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) after failing to campaign for enough seats to keep it in the prestigious council which makes decisions on marine practices the world over. According to close sources, while it is South Africa the country that has lost the seat, the issues that led to this lie squarely on the shoulders of the South African Maritime Safety Association (Samsa), currently embroiled in board and corporate disputes that made it impossible for the country to campaign and network in time to acquire enough votes to retain its seat. The implications are accreditation for South Africans working on international waters in any capacity, as Samsa is tasked with ensuring the credentials of individuals, vessels and projects undertaken off…

Given.Majola given.majola@inl.co.za GLOBAL internet group Naspers, through its early-stage tech investment vehicle Naspers Foundry, yesterday announced a R54 million investment in Planet42, a car subscription company that tackles transport inequality. The investment was part of a R91m equity round led by Naspers Foundry, alongside existing investors Change Ventures and Startup Wise Guys. Existing debt investors, such as the impact debt fund Lendable, added a further R380m of debt. The investment in Planet42 was part of Naspers’s R1.4 billion commitment to grow South Africa’s early-stage tech ecosystem and the eighth investment since the launch of Naspers Foundry in 2019, the group said yesterday. Naspers SA chief executive Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa said: “This investment builds on Naspers’ growing mobility portfolio, which includes WhereIsMyTransport, Autotrader and OLX Autos, among others. “Planet42 is an…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za AFTER Ascendis’s drama-filled annual meeting on Monday that required a court order to be held, Harry Smit, newly-appointed director and leader of dissenting shareholders who overturned the old board, said he hoped to see the company grow again. On Saturday there was an urgent court application by a shareholder of the company, Cambridge Investments, which resulted in the Gauteng High Court declaring the company’s plan – announced just days before – to postpone the meeting, invalid. It was never going to be a regular annual meeting. According to Smit, spokesperson for the so-called Retail Activist Investors (RAI), the shareholders were in two opposing “camps”, after Smit had been vocal about the company’s governance and business, and had managed to gather enough shareholder support to vote him in…