Star 2022-08-29

GLOBAL food and beverage group Pepsico is confident the multi-billion rands of commitments it made to the Competition Commision through its acquisition of Pioneer Foods, is on track. This was according to Pepsico executive vice-president chief of corporate affairs Roberto Azevedo, who was interviewed yesterday during his visit from the US to the group’s South African operations. He said Pepsico Sub-Saharan Africa was now among the top ten biggest contributors to group revenue, and the intention was to grow this, both in South Africa where the bulk of this revenue derives from, and other African countries, which, he said, for the group, were still relatively “unexplored”. Globally Pepsico operates in more than 200 countries and territories. As part of the public interest commitments made to the government in terms of…

REBOSIS Property Fund was suspended on the JSE on Friday after it went into business rescue because of provincial government and municipal delays in rent payments and the impact of rising interest rates on its debt. The share was suspended at 16 cents, after falling from 29c a year ago and after plunging from as high as R10.95 five years ago. It’s management had always cited its “sovereign tenants”, which make up more than 50 percent of its turnover, as a defensive aspect to its portfolio – as government tenants were once considered reliable – even in times of economic hardship. Its portfolio includes Baywest and Hemmingway Mall, office block 11 Diagonal Street in Johannesburg, Sunnypark Mall and Grand Central in Cape Town. Rebosis was established in…

North Gauteng High Court grants Sars a preservation order against the corporation GOLD LEAF TOBACCO Corporation (GLTC) has cried foul over the freezing of its assets by the court while the South African tax authority conducts a probe into the company’s tax affairs. On Friday, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria granted the South African Revenue Service (Sars) a preservation order against the controversial cigarette manufacturer. The preservation order was granted in terms of section 163 of the Tax Administration Act No 28 of 2011 against GLTC and its directors, Simon Rudland and Ebrahim Adamjee. The order prohibits the Zimbabwean-owned company and its directors from selling any of their assets while Sars continues with its investigation into tax avoidance. However, a lawyer acting on behalf of Gold Leaf, Raees…

BEN LA GRANGE, the chief financial officer of what became South Africa’s biggest corporate fraud, Steinhoff, was censured on Friday by the JSE, fined R2 million and barred from holding a position in a listed company for 10 years. In October 2020, the JSE censured the European furniture retailer Steinhoff and imposed a R13.5m fine for its transgressions of listings requirements. Steinhoff first disclosed a hole in its accounts in December 2017, and subsequently more than R100 billion of accounting fraud between the 2009 and 2017 accounting years were discovered, involving a small group of top executives and outsiders. The JSE said La Grange should have known, for example, that a purported €23.5m (R395m) transaction between a Steinhoff subsidiary and some of its suppliers was not an actual…

TRANSPORT corridor and logistic services group Grindrod is recording robust growth so far into the second half of its financial year, after strong freight volume growth boosted first half profit, chief executive Andrew Waller said on Friday. The group swung around to a R385.2 million profit in the six months to June 30 from a R424m loss in the prior period, and has restored an interim dividend payout. Headline earnings increased 53 percent to R529m, while cash generated from operations increased 120 percent to R336m. An interim dividend of 17.2 cents per share was declared. The ports, terminals and logistics corridor operator said the good results were underpinned by strong mineral commodity markets, while Grindrod Bank performed well on the back of favourable net interest margins.…

Central bankers worldwide have emphasised the importance of bringing down runaway inflation by hiking interest rates and using other measures even if it means slowing the economies. But what if the central bankers get it all wrong and overkill? If the aim of the central bankers is to return the G7 consumer price index to the trend line from March 1997 to December 2020 (the onset of the coronavirus), it means that the G7 consumer price index will fall by about 2.5 percent by the end of 2024 from recent levels. The G7 countries consist of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. Yes, the developed economies could face deflation – when general price levels in a country falls. In the 77 years from 1938 to…