Star 2022-09-16

AIRPORTS Company South Africa (Acsa) has reported a R1 billion loss for the year ended March 31, 2022, down from a loss of R2.6bn the previous year, signifying narrowing losses with traffic volumes remaining below pre-pandemic levels. Acsa yesterday said the 2021/22 financial results largely reflected a difficult operating environment following the Covid-19 pandemic and last year’s July civil unrest. Acsa chief executive Mpumi Mpofu said that even though this year’s performance had been much better than the previous year, the persistently tough operating environment has somewhat slowed down recovery. Revenue was R3.9bn for the 12-month period, up by 81 percent from the R2.2bn reported in the previous financial year. Mpofu said that the recovery that occurred during the reporting period was supported by a gradual and intermittent…

The landscape has since changed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the past difficult two-and-a-half years SOUTH Africa’s tourism industry has revised downwards its annual target for 21 million international tourist arrivals and 2 million jobs in the country by 2030 after the Covid-19 pandemic shaved off at more than two years of activity. Tourism Business Council South Africa chief executive Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa yesterday said this. In 2018, the tourism industry presented a 20-page growth strategy setting ambitious milestones to attract at least 21 million visitors and create two million additional jobs by 2030. However, Tshivhengwa said that the landscape had since changed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the difficult two-and-a-half years that the industry has gone through. “So we do acknowledge that we are not going to…

​A​NALYSTS yesterday reiterated the call for a thorough review of legislation after Eskom yesterday issued a statement updating key assumptions in the revenue requirements for its application for an MultiYear Price Determination (MYPD) 5. Eskom has proposed a 32.02 percent electricity price hike from April 1, 2023. In accordance with National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) MYPD methodology, Eskom is required to provide any updates on changes in conditions and environments that impact various cost elements of the revenue requirements. Analysts said yesterday that the on-going application by Eskom and review by Nersa of the tariff structure should indicate if regulatory changes need be made as Nersa has become the underdog in applications by Eskom that eventually are overturned by the courts. Energy analyst Chris Yelland said yesterday:…

THE DEVASTATING impact of the pandemic and the Ukraine war on South Africa’s export trade were laid bare at the annual Eastern Cape Export Symposium that was held in East London this week. The Citrus Growers Association’s Justin Chadwick said the biggest problem facing citrus growers at present was high freight costs. While export volumes were still healthy, many exporters would not be making any money this year because of the high freight costs. Freight rates had increased sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic and during the ensuing global supply chain disruptions thereafter, and these rates had increased by four times since the start of the pandemic. Freight costs amount to some 40 percent of the export cost chain, said Chadwick. He said it was not as though the major…

Tough negotiations still ahead to get the AfCFTA off the ground TOUGH negotiations are happening behind the scenes between African governments to hammer out differences in their localisation and industrial protection policies in respect of the aims of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to liberalise trade between the countries. This was according to Trudi Hartzenberg, an executive director of the Tralac Law Centre, who spoke about the imminent commencement of inter-continental trade at the Eastern Cape Export Symposium yesterday. Hartzenberg said the AfCFTA was a “very ambitious” trade agreement between 55 African countries that would not supplant existing agreements such as SADC and the SA Customs Union. She said a pilot implementation phase was set to launch on October 1 between eight countries – Kenya, Tanzania,…

METAIR Investments, a manufacturer, distributor and retailer of automotive components and energy storage solutions, yesterday reported interims that were battered and bruised amid a perfect storm of headwinds, amid expansion, which led it to breach its debt covenants. For the six months ended June 30, 2022, its headline earnings per share dropping from 170 cents to 45c, were down 73 percent Net debt ballooned by 84 percent to R2.4 billion from R1.3bn, while its net debt to equity ratio increased to 49 percent. However, Sjoerd Douwenga, Metair’s chief financial officer, said Metair should see the debt and net working capital levels normalise in the second half. “Our funders recognise the short-term nature of this position and have been supportive in discussions around the waiver of…