Star 2023-03-24

The implementation of intensified load shedding has crippled SA’s growth THE NUMBER of consumers and businesses who are losing confidence in the South African economy has grown significantly mainly due to the impact of the persistent energy crisis as sentiment in the sectors plunged to historic levels. Data yesterday showed that the FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) in the first quarter of 2023 fell to its lowest in three years. The CCI, which is sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), slumped to a reading of -23 points, from -8 points in the fourth quarter of 2022. All three sub-indices of the CCI declined dramatically during the first quarter of 2023. This was the third lowest CCI reading on…

THE ONCE MIGHTY Steinhoff International looks like it has finally run out of rope to turn around its fortunes as it faces a credit default and possible liquidation after its shareholders voted against a crucial restructuring plan. In 2017 the company made headlines for accounting fraud in what is said to be South Africa’s biggest corporate fraud, with its executives facing criminal charges. And despite strenuous efforts by a new executive team to keep the troubled retailer as a going concern, at Steinhoff’s annual general meeting (AGM) late on Wednesday, shareholders voted against the debt-restructuring deal. Steinhoff needed shareholder support to back a deal to give creditors 80% of its equity, leaving existing shareholders with only 20% of the equity value. This as the retailer owes it creditors…

THE NATIONAL Treasury is preparing a Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) Circular dealing with the relief strategy regarding more than R50 billion debt owed to Eskom by municipalities. This was announced by Deputy President Paul Mashatile yesterday in Parliament during his maiden oral questions session in the National Assembly. This government intervention was first announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his Budget Speech last month when he said Eskom would provide incentivised relief to municipalities whose debt was unaffordable. Mashatile said the MFMA Circular was expected to be released later this month, with implementation expected to start on April 1. “Under the National Treasury, the Multidisciplinary Revenue Committee is continuing with its main task of ensuring that all municipal debts are co-ordinated, tracked and resolved on an ongoing…

REMGRO, the investment holding company chaired by well known businessperson Johann Rupert, lifted its interim dividend a hefty 60% to 80 cents per share. This was after intrinsic net asset value a share increased only 5% to R223.86 in the six months to December 31, 2022, from R213.10 at the same time last year. The closing share price at December 31 was R133.03 (June 30: R129.91), representing a discount of 40.6% (June 30: 39%) to intrinsic net asset value. The share price closed 2.17% higher at R133.24 on the JSE yesterday. “Despite the challenges and negative outlook on a global scale, as well as South Africa’s own unique challenges, we believe our track record stands us in good stead to weather the storms and deliver on our vision to…

THE AFRIMAT Construction Index (ACI) outperformed the economy in the fourth quarter of last year, but activity remains generally muted due to rising interest rates and the inability of municipalities to invest in infrastructure. This was according to Dr Roelof Botha, a well known economist who compiles the index on behalf of building and future materials and metals and commodity mining group Afrimat, who said yesterday that the ACI’s improvement of 1.9% outperformed the economy year-on-year. He said in a telephone interview the index fell 2.2% quarter-on-quarter, compared with gross domsetic product fourth quarter growth of 1.3%, but this decline was not unexpected given the fourth quarter is traditionally a weak trading period for the construction sector. He questioned how National Treasury planned to transfer billions of rands of infrastructure…

MORE THAN 400 people lost their billionaire status last year, most from China, as global monetary tightening, Covid-19 disruptions and Beijing's crackdown on major tech companies hurt the super wealthy, a ranking of the world’s wealthiest showed. China lost 229 billionaires from the Hurun Global Rich List 2023, accounting more than half of the 445 people who disappeared from the list, which ranks moguls with a minimum net worth of $1 billion (R18.8bn), the Hurun Report said yesterday. The world’s second biggest economy also added 69 new billionaires to the list during the period. “The number of billionaires in the world is down by 8%, whilst their total wealth dropped 10%,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder and chairperson of the Hurun Report. A total of 3 112 people…