Star 2023-07-31

Insurer using software-as-a-service and artificial intelligence in new strategy Old Mutual is on track with its plan to build a bank and it has already spent R1.2 billion towards this from the R1.75bn its board approved for the project, Old Mutual CEO Iain Williamson said on Friday. Speaking during an investor update, he said he had been asked many times since November last year, when the insurance and financial services group with some 12 million clients first announced plans to establish a bank, why did it plan to do so, given that the retail bank market in South Africa was, by his admission, already crowded. He said by building a “cloud native bank” from the “ground-up”, using software-as-a-service, artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies, would allow the group to do…

THE South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has issued a warning about the potential impact of the El Niño weather conditions on food prices, which could push up consumer inflation in the months ahead and force the bank to raise interest rates once again. This comes just as consumer inflation dipped within the SARB’s target band of 3-6% in June for the first time in nearly two years due to declining fuel and food prices, though it remained near the upper limit at 5.4%. Headline inflation rose sharply this past year, surpassing the upper end of the 3-6% inflation target band in April 2022 and reaching a 13-year high of 7.8% in July 2022. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago on Friday said that major climate events such as floods and droughts had…

Netcare, the private hospital group, said Friday that its CEO of 18 years, Dr Richard Friedland intended to take early retirement and would step down as CEO and as a board executive director from September 30, 2024. Netcare chairman Mark Bower thanked Dr Friedland for “his servant leadership, loyalty, and invaluable contribution” to Netcare during 30 years of unbroken service to Netcare, 18 of which were served as CEO. As a simple example of how Netcare has grown under Dr Friedland’s term as CEO, revenue reached R21.64 billion during the 2022 financial year, from only R7.53bn in 2005. “...he steered Netcare through…the Covid-19 pandemic, serving on the ‘front line’ and supporting the provision of quality care to over 160 000 South Africans, while remaining steadfast in overseeing the implementation of…

Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has assured private sector players and investors that they will now play a bigger role in funding the more than R200 billion required for the expansion of the transmission grid in South Africa. This comes as the first stage of getting the National Transmission Company of SA (NTCSA) operational has received the green light, which would lead to the full unbundling of Eskom into three units. During his weekly media briefing yesterday, Ramokgopa said Eskom will need about R100bn for the 2025 financial year to expand the transmission grid, which will be ramped up to R170bn by 2029. “We are engaging with the team to see how best we can finance this rollout that is required for us to support the issues around transmission,” Ramokgopa…

WOOLWORTHS expects its earnings to increase by more than 20% despite flagging that the energy crisis continued to have a pronounced impact on its business. In its trading statement for the 52 weeks ended June 25, the retailer said on Friday that it expected earnings per share, headline earnings per share for the total group, including the contribution from David Jones, to be more than 20% higher than the reported earnings per share (eps), and headline earnings per share (heps) for the prior year. Headline earnings are expected to be 405.6 cents to 442.4c from 368.7c the prior year, while earnings per share are anticipated to be 401.7c to 438.2 from 365.2c the previous year. The group, which disposed of its David Jones operations in March 2023, said David Jones…

ANGELO Swartz, appointed the CEO of Spar from October 1, has his work cut out to turn around the fortunes of the retailer amid tough competition from the likes of Checkers as he eyes modernising the business. Swartz would take over from Mike Bosman, who became an executive chair of Spar in February after its former CEO Brett Botten’s retirement in January after only two years in that position, Spar said in a statement on Friday. Spar said Swartz was highly respected in the Spar Group, with a deep knowledge of the South African market, having been with the company for 16 years and at Woolworths before that. “He is currently the divisional managing director of the second largest Spar division in southern Africa, the Spar KwaZulu-Natal division. In addition…