Star 2022-03-07

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za OIL COMPANIES have no concerns about meeting local demand through import fuel at this stage, in spite of worsening industry risk factors that have included Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, industry representative bodies said on Friday. The South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) said in response to Business Report’s questions that at this stage there were no concerns relating to imported fuels, and there was sufficient storage infrastructure to handle additional volumes from imports as required from the end of this month, following the recent announcement of the “pause” in production and possible sale of Shell and BP’s Sapref refinery, South Africa’s biggest refinery, south of eThekwini. “The only concern would be attri- buted to vessel delays due to weather conditions, however these are managed,” Sapia said. The…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za ESKOM’S deferral of the project to replace steam generators at Koeberg’s Unit 2 will save the economy billions of rands as loadshedding and outages in the high demand winter season would have been catastrophic, both pro and anti-nuclear supporters said yesterday as the utility bears the cost of postponing the refurbishments to August next year. Eskom on Friday announced Eskom will defer the replacement of three steam generators at Unit 2 of Koeberg nuclear power station so that the unit can return to service in June as scheduled. The unit, which was shut down on January 18 for refuelling and extension of life which includes the replacement of three steam generators, was scheduled to return to service. What is concerning is Framatome (French company) had…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa’s tourism and hospitality industry has called for the removal of the stringent PCR test requirement for fully vaccinated travellers in a bid to boost the sector on the back of declining Covid-19 cases. Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla on Friday said the department was formulating new regulations to replace the National State of Disaster which lapses on March 15 and whose Act permitted the lockdown restrictions for two years. Phaahla said they were now ready to present their proposals to the Cabinet and the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) within the next two weeks. He also said a team of senior government officials had been leading consultations on the issue of mandatory vaccinations and will hand over recommendations to the NCCC. “We hope the…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za INTERNATIONAL banking group BNP Paribas has warned that consumer prices in South Africa could increase aggressively this year as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine. BNP on Friday said South Africa’s headline inflation rate could soar up to 6 percent this year, as the intensity of Russian sanctions continue to exert upward pressure on the global economy. Inflation has been below 6 percent since 2016, when it was driven by a severe drought induced by one of the strongest El Niño events on record, which reduced crop production by nearly 50 percent. On Friday, BNP revised upwards its average 2022 consumer price inflation (CPI) estimate by 0.8 percentage points, to 6 percent, on higher non-core prices exacerbated by the…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za VIRGIN Active is being recapitalised with funding from existing and new shareholders and will acquire Kauai- owner The Real Foods Group to position itself into a broader wellness and nutrition group. Existing Virgin Active shareholders, Luxembourg and JSE-listed Brait and Virgin Group, will invest £20.2 million (R408.8m) in the business. In addition, members of an investor consortium in Real Foods will invest £18.2m and Titan Premier Investments, an investment vehicle of South African businessperson Christo Wiese, will invest £50m to become new shareholders in Virgin Active. Gyms such as those operated by Virgin Active were hard hit through government restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa and the United Kingdom, but the facilities remain integral to many consumers wishing to be part of the broader…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za BRITISH property development and investment company Hammerson made £623 million (R12.6 billion) in disposals in the year to December 31, looking to reposition and face changes in shopping behaviour that have accelerated through the Covid-19 pandemic. The London and JSE-listed owner of malls in the UK and centres in Europe has realigned its portfolio, significantly strengthened the balance sheet, and reset strategy for value creation focused on its prime urban estates, it said on Friday. Hammerson is among many retail property landlords who are seeing a return of consumers to their centres, after pandemic-related closures and trading restrictions accelerated retail trends – including increases in buying online and reduced foot counts, and property values in line with weakening economies. “We are already seeing tangible results…