Star 2023-03-20

SOME BIG businesses have cautiously caved in to the pressure exerted by calls for the “National Shutdown” and have voluntarily closed until Wednesday, in spite of assurances by the government that Monday is a normal operating day. The National Shutdown is a nationwide protest called by South Africa’s third largest political party, the EFF, supported by a variety of civil society and organised labour to demand the resignation of President Ramaphosa and to highlight the scourge of load shedding, unemployment, crime, high cost of living, among other issues. The protest is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of disgruntled citizens to the streets and fears of violent looting similar to July 2021 riots have escalated. The protest is likely to bring economic activity and movement to a halt by blocking…

SA CORPORATE Real Estate (SAcorp), which last week proposed to acquire residential real estate investment trust (Reit) Indluplace, declared a 5.5% higher distribution, to 24.15 cents per share (cps) at a 90% payout ratio for the year to December 31, over last year’s 22.89 cps at the same payout ratio. SAcorp’s portfolio consists of 157 industrial, retail and residential properties, with 1 350 666 square metres of gross lettable area valued at R15.2 billion; a 50% joint venture interest in three Zambian entities with properties valued at R1.4bn; and, listed investments of R169 million. Post financial year-end, the listed investment in Safari Investments RSA was disposed of for R112m. A further R400m interest rate swop agreement was entered into and a R50.9m US dollar…

AFTER three long months of implementing intensified power cuts, Eskom this weekend finally suspended load shedding for the first time this year due to some recovery in generation capacity. This was a welcome relief for businesses and households who have had to endure heightened levels of rotational load shedding for the better part of the past six months. Eskom on Friday said it would suspend load shedding during the day on Sunday, after implementing Stages 1 and 2, due to recovery in capacity and lower expected demand. The struggling utility said the lower expected weekend demand had allowed it to reduce the required stages of load shedding and suspend where possible. The recovery of Eskom’s generation capacity has been significant as breakdowns were at 14 256MW, down from 17…

MINER AngloGold Ashanti said on Friday, for the year ended December 31, 2022, it elected not to award salary increases to its leadership team due to restructuring. According to the group, non-executive directors also elected not to receive a fee increase for 2022 to align themselves with the executive and senior management teams. In its integrated report released on Friday, the mining firm said it experienced significant changes during 2022, with a great deal of restructuring needed to place performance on a more favourable long-term trajectory after especially challenging conditions in the prior two years. It said: “The beginning of the year saw the conclusion of an operating model revamp under CEO Alberto Calderon and Lisa Ali, the new chief people officer who joined in April. “This restructuring was accompanied…

MORE THAN 100 years ago, a group of Afrikaner men met in Stellenbosch to form a publishing entity that would support their cause. After many years of operating as a publishing company it transitioned into being a technology company. Throughout the process of operating as a publishing company it committed many sins for which it later apologised. As part of an apology process the company committed to do good and correct some wrongs of the past. When Phuti Mahanyele, the CEO of the company, announced during the Presidential Investment Summit, a technology fund (Naspers Foundry) she was partly paying for sins of the past. She was also paying for a new sin that the company had committed (more on that later). This week the company announced that Foundry would close…

BALWIN Properties sold fewer apartments in the year to February 28, but its gross profit margin improved and cash and loan-to-value positions were well within targets, the group said in a business update and trading statement on Friday. Management said the 6.1% reduction in apartments sold, to 2 780 units, was from adopting a more defensive strategy in the handover to owners, to ensure the forward sales position remained robust. “This is to provide sales protection into the new financial year, which is anticipated to present challenging trading conditions,” they said in the statement. Consolidated headline earnings per share was expected to increase by between 16% and 21%, translating into an increase from the prior financial year’s 75.88 cents to a range of between 88 and 91.8c per…