Star 2023-04-04

Individuals who install rooftop solar panels from March 1 will be able to claim a 25% discount SOLAR panel shortages in South Africa may lead to price increases on the available products with the impact of this more likely to be felt by smaller businesses, as well as medium and lower-income households with smaller budgets, according to KPMG partner and head of energy and natural resources Safeera Loonat. Loonat said this was happening while continued load shedding has seen banks offer new solutions to fund residential and small commercial solar solutions. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced in his Budget Speech in February that starting in March this year businesses would be able to reduce their taxable income by 125% of the cost of investing in renewables. Individuals who install rooftop…

STRUGGLING businesses will soon be able to apply for their share of the R50 million in Absa’s energy subsidy grants, which it has made available to help keep the businesses running. Absa said in a statement yesterday it would provide up to R50m in energy subsidy under its Green Asset Finance programme for qualifying SMEs, in a move to support and grow small- and medium-sized businesses. Absa’s energy subsidy is the only grant of its kind providing some support to small business customers to finance solar installations and keep the lights on, the bank said. Eligible SMEs that had their commercial properties financed by Absa would be contacted by Absa and need not take any action to apply for the support. Subsidy amounts would be determined based on…

AYO TECHNOLOGY Solutions (AYO) has informed its shareholders it would repurchase R619 million of the shares that the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) holds in the company, as part of its settlement agreement with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and the GEPF. In a statement following a JSE notice issued by the ICT group earlier yesterday, AYO said it is revealing some details of its settlement deal after an article in the Daily Maverick on March 25, which disclosed the settlement terms and which the group said misrepresented the agreement between it and the PIC. “AYO wishes to emphasise and confirm that at no stage has it disclosed or verified the terms of the settlement to Daily Maverick or any other media publication. AYO must assume that the PIC acted…

TECK RESOURCES yesterday unani- mously rejected an unsolicited and opportunistic acquisition proposal from Glencore plc. This follows Glencore announcing its proposal for a merger between Glencore and Teck. Glencore submitted a proposal to the board of directors of Teck Resources – on March 26 this year – to merge with Teck and to simultaneously demerge their combined metals and coal businesses. Teck describes itself as among Cana- da’s leading mining companies, and says it is committed to responsible mining and mineral development, with major business units focused on copper, zinc and steelmaking coal. The offer is the largest acquisition attempt by the largest coal miner since its merger with Xstrata in 2013. Teck said if the acquisitions had happened, it would have exposed its shareholders to thermal coal and oil…

ADVANCED Health’s headline loss from continuing operations widened to R20.8 million in the six months to December 31, as it moves to exit the Australian market with the sale of its operations there for R522m. The company’s Australian majority owned Presmed Australia (PMA) owns or co-owns 10 operating facilities, including day hospitals and consultation clinics in partnership with the practising doctors in those facilities in and around Sydney, Australia’s Central Coast, and Tasmania. “In order to focus more strategically on developing and expanding its South African operations, Advanced Health has resolved to exit the Australian market and dispose of its equity interest within PMA,” the group said in its interim results released yesterday. PresMed BidCo on December 23 entered into a binding agreement to buy 100% of PMA shares…

THE SETTLEMENT between the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and AYO Technology Solutions (AYO) has ended their protracted legal dispute. However, the AYO case highlights the impact of negative media coverage and the weaponisation of quasi-judicial processes, such as commissions of inquiry against companies. The case has broader implications for the South African business landscape, particularly international investor sentiment. AYO, a large information technology company, was formed by amalgamating several long-standing, profitable IT companies into the ICT group. But hostile media gave the impression that a “small, newly formed IT company” approached the PIC for a more considerable investment than its actual size. The media built the narrative to target and undermine AYO. The disproportionate targeting of AYO and associate companies at the Mpati Commission of Inquiry raises concerns about the…