Star 2023-02-09

JSE-LISTED Coronation Fund Managers’s shares plunged 11% on market displeasure as it faces a hefty tax comeuppance after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled against it in a battle with SA Revenue Service (Sars). The group was subject of a review on a matter of principle relating to its international operations, and assessed for the 2012 to 2017 financial periods. Coronation’s share closed at R31.80, 11.05% lower. It warned yesterday in a JSE regulatory announcement that it would not be able to issue an interim dividend due to the ruling. Coronation said it was quantifying the exact financial impact of the ruling and would update shareholders in due course. “Given the material impact on earnings and cash flows, the company does not anticipate declaring an interim dividend,” it said.…

AFRICAN countries, including South Africa, cannot follow any one agenda to achieve their net zero carbon emissions targets, despite the prescripts of developed countries, they need to do it their own way, Crispian Olver, the executive director of the South Africa Climate Commission said yesterday. Speaking at an intergovernmental summit at the African Mining Indaba, Olver said while African governments needed to work to maximise job creation and livelihoods, if they moved too fast on the energy transition they risked shutting down industries and sectors still dependent on the fossil fuel economy, and if they moved too slow, they risked falling behind on economic opportunities and being shut out of the global economy. Barbara Creecy, the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, said South Africa had never advocated a “sudden”…

President will deliver the Sona tonight under immense pressure to provide solutions to tackle SA’s energy crisis THE BUSINESS industry has called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to put an emphasis on measures to revive economic activity by investing in critical infrastructure in the State of the Nation Address (Sona) today. Ramaphosa will deliver the Sona tonight under immense pressure to provide solutions to tackle the country’s worsening energy crisis that has crippled business activity and the economy. Load shedding, coupled with deteriorating logistics industry, infrastructure vandalism, record-levels of unemployment and rising poverty are among top priority issues that business, labour and economists will be looking out for in the Sona. The South African Reserve Bank has confirmed that load shedding was costing the national economy between R204 million and…

A SECTION of South Africa’s labour movement has threatened to go to court in a bid to interdict the government from declaring a National State of Disaster on Eskom. This comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) today is expected to announce the decision of the Cabinet Lekgotla. The move to declare a National State of Disaster on the ongoing energy crisis was first proposed at the ANC Lekgotla two weeks ago, but has received signifi- cant pushback from opposition parties and NGOs. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) yesterday said the plans to declare a disaster on the current rolling blackouts was to create conditions of privatising the country’s energy. In a media briefing yesterday, Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim…

THE POULTRY industry entered 2023 on a sombre note as it carried through tight margins due to elevated production costs, which were exacerbated by the persistent load shedding. Although South Africa is well supplied with chicken, load shedding had already disrupted operations in December 2022, which saw intermittent availability of certain product lines for some fast-food outlets. The situation worsened early in 2023, which affected the whole chicken value chain and the broader agriculture sector, especially the electricity-intensive production systems such as poultry, pork, dairy and irrigated crops, while up the value chain, it impacted negatively on abattoirs, feed milling, and other produce processing operations. Products costs have been quite elevated in the past 12 months, with the price of maize, a major raw input which accounts for more…

ESG (ENVIRONMENT, social, governance) standards were being used as a “rigid gatekeeper” that is working to inhibit investment on the continent, Warren Beech, chief executive of law firm Beech Veltman Inc said yesterday. He spoke at an event to mark the launch by global audit and certification group Bureau Veritas, of a White Paper on achieving net zero through decarbonisation solutions, for the mining and metal industries. The paper was one of the new strategies on the energy transition announced at the African Mining Indaba. For instance, the African Development Bank also announced yesterday that it would develop a “Green African Minerals Strategy” to guide African countries to optimise benefits from the battery and electric value chain. Beech said greenwashing was a “real concern” because ESG standards don’t take into…