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NOVA PROPGROW Group Holdings said yesterday that a Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) notice stating that it should not be allowed to sell properties until after further inter-regulatory intervention was “flawed” and a legal team was drafting papers to review the compliance notice. Nova’s management said in response to Business Report questions, however, that they accept that the notice, issued last week, was binding, pending its review, and its terms would be abided by. Nova was initially the subject of an investigation by the CIPC for allegedly trading recklessly and while insolvent, in terms of an initial notice, early in 2021. The CIPC subsequently accepted that this request to show cause was adequately addressed and this aspect no longer forms part of the current CIPC’s complaint. In 2011, some…
TRANSNET is cracking the whip to get its organisation in order as it yesterday launched an application in the High Court to compel China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) E-Loco Supply to supply the prerequisite parts and components for a fleet of 300 locomotives. These parts were imported to service and maintain the 95 20E and 100 21E locomotives acquired from CRRC in 2012 and 2014, respectively. In a statement yesterday, Transnet said the application provided for an urgent hearing to secure the immediate release of the spares for use in the locomotives, and for the amount due by Transnet to CRRC for such spares, if anything, to be determined in due course. “Access to the spare parts and components will allow Transnet to bring back to service 53 Class…
Signs are not promising for SA’s GDP growth after June’s data contracted Signs are not promising for gross domestic product (GDP) growth after June’s retail sales data contracted substantially worse than markets expected, which led the rand to weaken against the dollar. Annabel Bishop, the chief economist at Investec, said: “The retail sales outcome is negative for South Africa’s GDP outlook for 2022 and so for the rand.” Statistics South Africa said yesterday retail sales fell 2.5 percent year-on-year (y/y) in June after rising by 0.1 percent in May. The slide in annual volume sales was largely driven by hardware material sales, with volumes declining by 8.6 percent y/y in June, worse than the 7.1 percent y/y recorded in May in line with the waning…
CITY LOGISTICS, the largest privately- owned logistics company in South Africa, and private equity management company Clearwater Capital have partnered to acquire 100 percent of franchiser Fastway Courier Company. The acquisition creates one of the largest turnkey logistics providers to the fashion, retail and e-commerce sectors, City Logistics chief executive Ryan Gaines said yesterday. Clearwater has acquired a 30 percent minority stake in Fastway. The value of the transactions was not disclosed. The deal takes place in one of South Africa’s fastest-growing business sectors. South Africa is the 41st largest market for e-commerce, with a revenue of $5 billion (R82.08bn) in 2021. Global e-commerce sales are expected to increase at a yearly rate of 8 percent between 2021 and 2025 and are expected to outperform the…
AS SOUTH Africa battles to contain a foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak that will have economic knock-on effects and hit exports, the elevation of biosecurity measures has become key, industry experts flagged yesterday. Industry was reacting after the announcement by Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza on Tuesday to suspend all movement of cattle in South Africa due to FMD for 21 days. Afrivet IAP executive Tony Willis said FMD had hit the feedlot industry at a time when it was under immense pressure due to the high cost of feed and supplementary products, the cost of weaners and other headwinds. He said over the past three weeks, the feedlot industry had been significantly impacted by two confirmed outbreaks, one in the second-largest feedlot in…
ASPEN Pharmacare Holdings said yesterday that revenue for its financial year to June 30 would be impacted by the divestment of certain products. This was after it last week indicated that its Covid-19 production lines may soon go idle due to a lack of new orders. Aspen currently produces vaccines for Johnson & Johnson and in March it struck a deal to produce, price, and sell its own-brand version of the shot for African markets. That deal was considered a game-changer for a continent frustrated by sluggish Western handouts. But while only a fifth of adults in Africa are fully vaccinated, according to the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, demand for shots have failed to materialise. The group said in a trading update yesterday that as per guidance…
