Star 2023-04-03

ABSA GROUP is planning a massive BEE transaction to increase black ownership to over 25% and benefit communities and staff, the lender said yesterday. Absa said Friday the details of the new deal had been finalised and would be implemented later this year, subject to shareholder approval. The transaction would strengthen the group’s BEE credentials in South Africa and provide communities and staff with an opportunity to benefit from the value generated by the group. Through the transaction 7% of the group’s shareholding would be allocated to structures to benefit ordinary black South Africans through a Corporate Social Investment (CSI) trust, and employees through a staff trust. The 7% stake equates to about R11.2 billion based on Absa’s recent share prices, making the deal one of the largest…

RENERGEN has completed geological surveys showing potentially larger reservoirs than originally anticipated, the owner of South Africa’s first onshore gas production site said in a quarterly update Friday. A due diligence was being completed for Phase 2 funding with US DFC and Standard Bank, finalising credit submissions. On the geological surveys, the group said full 3D modelling and inversions of gas bearing features have been completed, the results of which were being incorporated into an updated 3D geological block model. In addition to magnetic data collected, the gravity gradient data had indicated further areas of interest within the field, specifically a series of low-density areas. “These low-density features, mainly attributable to previously undiscovered faults that are potentially gas bearing, are more numerous than previously thought and of significant extent, which…

HOUSEHOLD finances in South Africa are expected to deteriorate as pressure from rising interest rates and elevated inflation could shrink personal disposable income, after real consumption expenditure rose modestly in the last three months of 2022. Data from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) on Friday showed that real final consumption expenditure by households reverted to an increase in the fourth quarter of 2022, following a small decrease in the third quarter. According to the SARB’s Quarterly Bulletin, household consumption expenditure grew by a subdued rate of 0.9% quarter-on-quarter, and 1.9% year-on-year, in the fourth quarter. Consumption was partly lifted by higher tourist arrivals during the festive season and Black Friday sales. Real personal disposable income also grew by a seasonally adjusted 0.8% quarter-on-quarter, following a 0.3% contraction in the…

Power utility warns it could report yet another record net loss before tax ESKOM has warned it could report yet another record net loss before tax of R32.4 billion for the financial year ended March 31, 2023, after its half-year profit fell by nearly two-thirds. This would be Eskom’s sixth consecutive annual loss since 2018, following a loss of R12.3bn reported in 2022, which was down from a restated R25bn loss in 2021. The struggling power utility on Friday reported a decline in net profit after tax of R3.8bn for the six months ended September 30, 2022, down from R10.61bn a year before. Eskom said this decline in profit was driven by rolling power cuts, rising municipal debt, contracting sales volumes and poor plant performance, in spite of the…

THE COMPETITION Appeal Court on Friday heard closing arguments from three banks challenging a Competition Tribunal order to grant the Sekunjalo Group an interim order against closing its bank accounts. The three banks that made submissions are Mercantile Bank, a division of Capitec Bank; Access Bank; and Standard Bank of South Africa. This follows the September 2022 granting of interim relief to the Sekunjalo Group, preventing the three banks from closing the group’s bank accounts and ordering five other banks to reopen accounts that had been closed. At the time, the Sekunjalo Group argued that the banks’ closing the accounts, or refusing to provide bank ing and payment services, constituted an abuse of dominance; collusion; and coordinated conduct that lessened competition in contravention of the Competition Act. The six other…

FIVE years ago, geopolitical relationships were relatively stable, technology evolved at a manageable and predict- able pace, and the economic growth of countries showed steady improvement following the 2008 financial crisis. In 2023, record inflation levels are threatening global recession, simmering conflicts may spill over into full scale war in eastern Europe, and technology has rapidly accelerated – catalysed and precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital technologies are transforming markets and creating novel economic opportunities pervasively across all sectors. According to the World Bank, strengthening digital inclusion is of paramount importance for any nation’s competitiveness and social stability. ChatGPT, launched towards the latter part of 2022, caused a step change in the impact that technology has in its potential to redefine all sectors, including education. It has had the fastest…