Star 2023-03-30

UNEMPLOYMENT compromises gross domestic product growth, threatens economic stability and tears at the fabric of our society. Standard Bank, as well as indepen- dent research, show that South African employment is still 5% lower than pre-Covid-19. A 35% unemployment rate means that only 200 000 out of the approximately 350 000 South Africans that are entering the job market each year will find work. In short, every year approximately 150 000 mostly young South Africans join the ranks of the unemployed. More disturbing still, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently reported that if current trends continue, South Africa’s unemployment rate will reach 40% by the end of the decade. Despite this bleak picture, “many of Standard Bank’s larger unlisted commercial enterprises, and even many of the country’s mid-sized corporates, are…

SOUTH African construction sector players are upbeat about the prospects for another three months after sentiment rose to a more than six-year high in the first quarter of 2023. This comes on the back of the struggling construction industry bucking the trend and growing by 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022 while gross domestic product shrank by 1.3%. The FNB/BER Civil Confidence Index gained 11 points to register a level of 42 points in the first quarter, from 31 points in the fourth quarter of 2022, improving for four consecutive quarters. FNB yesterday said the higher sentiment was due to a broad-based improvement in the business environment this quarter, which was encouraging. The indices measuring growth in civil construction activity, employment and profitability were at…

The rand yesterday rose to its strongest level in more than a month against the US dollar THE JSE ENDED trade higher yesterday, with the rand rising to its strongest level in more than a month against the dollar, buoyed by the strength of the gold price as fears of a wider banking contagion abated. The JSE All Share Index rose 0.6% to 76 480 points yesterday, and the rand moderated to R18.08 to the US dollar, its strongest since February 20 amid the gold rally, and moving away from a near three-year low of R18.60 hit on March 21. This was also boosted by the dollar’s general weakness after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the expected 25 basis points and said the fight against inflation…

HAMMARSDALE-based tyre recycler, Mathe Group, the last in the country, and Van Dyck, manufacturer of re- cycled rubber flooring – sister companies in the PFE International Group – are making multiple investments to double output. British investor and CEO of both Van Dyck and Mathe Group, Dr Mehran Zarrebini, said yesterday the pandemic had provided time to plan expansions and formulate a strategy to consolidate the supply chain that links Mathe Group, which recycles radial truck tyres to produce rubber crumb, and Van Dyck, which makes products such as rubber flooring and paving for gyms, fitness areas and playgrounds as well as ballistic tiles, acoustic underlays and livestock mats, from the rubber crumb. “It accelerated the need to change as a business and to pivot away from soft flooring and…

Dear Ferial, I’m writing this open letter to you as a colleague in the media, a journalist, and an editor. It is with sadness and irritation that I re-read your opinion piece on Saturday, which you originally wrote in 2019, but could not resist re-posting on the back of the news that we at Independent Media, had our salaries deferred. I am fully aware that I have been referred to in media circles as “Survé’s Chief Cheerleader”, but irrespective of that moniker, your base attack on the non-executive chairperson of Independent Media, Dr Iqbal Survé, was and still is, uncalled for and without merit. It is also unprofessional and smacks of your desperation to grab the headlines – for yourself. Is fighting our media colleagues in the public space really…

RCL FOODS, the branded foods, poultry and sugar group, has agreed to sell Vector Logistics to AP Moller Capital, in an R1.25 billion deal as it streamlines its portfolio. RCL Foods said yesterday that the disposal of Vector Logistics was a further step in the broader reshaping of RCL Foods’ underlying portfolio of businesses. In 2020 RCL Foods initiated a strategic review of the operations and resolved to separate its value-added branded businesses from its poultry and logistics operations to better position them for optimal growth as independent entities. “In addition, RCL Foods revised its strategic focus towards unlocking growth in the value-added consumer brands component of its business through sharper strategic focus and active investment,” it said. Vector Logistics is a frozen logistics operator, providing RCL Foods…