Star 2022-02-01

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za IRONGATE Group’s (formerly Investec Australia Property Fund or IAP) share price shot up 13.5 percent yesterday after it received a $1.3 billion (R20.25bn) cash bid buy-out offer from Charter Hall Managed Partnership that will open the door for a suitor that IAP’s board has rejected three times already. The Charter Hall partnership, which comprises Dutch pension fund PGGM and Charter Hall, said yesterday the offer at A$1.90 (R20.68) per share would also allow IAP’s shareholders to retain a distribution for the year to March 31 of up to 4.67 cents per share – the distribution amount represents the top end of guidance provided by IAP on December 9, 2021. IAP’s share price traded at R19.94 on the JSE yesterday morning. The offer includes an…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH African households and companies are showing increased appetite to take out loans as economic activity continues ticking up on the back of relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, a sign of positive business sentiment. Data from the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) yesterday showed that private sector credit extension accelerated to 2.58 percent from a year before in December 2021 after rising by 2.46 percent in November. This was in line with market forecasts of 2.6 percent, marking the 6th straight month of increase in private sector credit and the strongest rise since February last year. Data showed that all the components of credit, except the volatile investment and bills, recorded annual increases, but demand for asset-backed finance seemed to be losing some momentum. The Sarb said…

Dieketseng Maleke dieketseng.maleke@inl.co.za ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats) has agreed to sell its 50 percent share in the Kroondal mine to Sibanye-Stillwater for the grand sum of R1, in a deal that will double its lifespan, sustaining 2 500 jobs until 2029. By 4pm Amplats share price had soared 4 percent to R1 851.92, while Sibanye-Stillwater’s shares were up 1.61 percent at R55.56. Sibanye-Stillwater and Anglo Am- plats have a 50/50 percent share in Kroondal. The deal will nullify the venture, and Sibanye-Stillwater will expand its operations from the low-cost mechanised Kroondal operation in Rustenburg. Amplats said yesterday that is was pleased to sell its assets due to the mine’s short lifespan. Sibanye-Stillwater said yes- terday it would buy Amplats’s stake for R1 and in…

Average Brent crude oil price increased from $76 to $87 per barrel in period under review Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH African consumers are set to continue feeling the pinch of elevated consumer prices as international oil prices rose to a record high while commodity prices eased. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) yesterday announced the first fuel price hike for this year, kicking off tomorrow. High fuel prices, together with headline inflation at an elevated 5.9 percent and interest rates at 4 percent have already stretched consumer finances and dented real earnings. The DMRE said the price of petrol would increase by 53 cents per litre while diesel would rise by 80c per litre, and illuminating paraffin would jump by a massive R1.01 per litre.…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za MTN’S SHARE price was one of the big movers in the JSE yesterday, climbing more than 8 percent after subsidiary MTN Nigeria Communications reported a 45.5 percent increase in earnings per share to Naira 14.67 (about 55 cents) for the year to December 31, 2021. Mobile subscribers fell by 8 million to 68.5 million, but returned to positive net additions in the fourth quarter. Active data users increased by 1.7 million to 34.3 million. Fintech subscribers rose sharply by 4.8 million to 9.4 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by 27.9 percent to N877.1 billion (R32.8bn). Taxed profit increased 45.5 percent to N298.7bn. A final divi- dend of N8.57 per share would bring…

FACED with house arrest and possible beheading for the blasphemy of stating scientific facts, after judgment Galileo Galilei said eppur si muove – meaning “yet it moves”. So was the opposing voice in the leaked social policy position on the basic income grant (BIG) – eppur si muove. Amid everything that leaks and stinks in our Stinkwater tribal authority is the alarming but unsurprising leak of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council document a mere two weeks from the State of the Nation Address (Sona). Stinkwater is our latter day South Africa. This is where everything leaks and stinks in the physical and the virtual space. The stink and leak are what join us as a nation from the highest to the lowest levels of our public and private…