Star 2023-08-01

Tyre Importers Association warns that consumers will bear brunt of sharp increase in prices THE SOUTH African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC), which represents the four tyre manufacturers with plants in South Africa, yesterday welcomed the continued imposition of anti-dumping duties on passenger, truck and bus tyre imports from China. “Since the start of the investigation we have seen no less than three price increases from the local manufacturers with a fourth one due to come into effect in the next month or two. The consumer will once again have to bear the brunt of these increases. This is exactly what we predicted will happen if a dumping margin is introduced,” Tyre Importers Association of South Africa chairperson Charl de Villiers said yesterday. “We expect prices to increase further in coming…

THE price of 95 octane petrol will increase by 37 cents per litre (cpl) tomorrow while the price of diesel (0.005% sulphur) will increase by as much as 71cpl due to stronger global oil prices last month, offset slightly by a stronger rand. South Africa’s fuel prices are adjusted monthly, informed by international and local factors including international crude oil and finished product prices, and including importation costs such as shipping costs. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said yesterday that fuel prices are rising because the average Brent crude oil price increased to $79.75 a barrel in the period under review, from $75.10 per barrel the previous month, driven in part by increased demand for crude oil from China and India, and tightening supply due to continued production…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has commended the “sustained improvement” shown by Eskom’s generation fleet, a year after the government launched the Energy Action Plan to resolve the load shedding crisis. In his weekly newsletter Ramaphosa said yesterday that although load shedding had continued, the government had managed to avert a worst-case scenario by stabilising the performance of Eskom’s power stations and reducing demand. Ramaphosa said Eskom’s generation fleet had continued to show sustained improvement as unplanned losses had been reduced to less than 16 000MW in the last two months, down from more than 18 000 MW previously. He said planned maintenance had been reduced during the winter period, with Eskom having undertaken significant maintenance in the months preceding winter. “Since the launch of the Energy Action Plan, we…

LIBERTY Two Degrees (L2D), the South African precinct-focused, retail-centred real estate investment trust (Reit), saw more improvement in its properties in the six months to June 30 from the low of the Covid pandemic, with footfall in its portfolio of some of the most iconic South African retail properties up by 9.1% over the period. “The portfolio’s operational and financial metrics have continued to improve, notwithstanding a muted domestic economic and operating environment. L2D generated a good operating performance in the first half,” L2D’s CEO, Amelia Beattie, said yesterday. L2D’s assets include Melrose Arch and the Sandton City and Eastgate complexes in Johannesburg, and Liberty Mall in Pietermaritzburg. The group, whose shareholders are mulling an offer by L2D’s parent, Liberty Group, to buy out the minority shareholders and delist, reported…

MTN GROUP expects half-year to June earnings to increase despite volatility in forex rates in key markets. In its trading statement for the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, the country’s second-largest mobile operator said yesterday that its headline earnings per share (Heps) was expected to rise by up to 10% to between 506 cents and 557c, from 506c previously. “Heps was negatively impacted by some non-operational and one-off items of approximately 207c, while in June 2022 it was 94c for the six-month period. “These include hyperinflation excluding impairments of 38c, foreign exchange losses of 169c, and an International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) charge arising from the MTN Ghana localisation transaction,” the group said. MTN said it noted the volatility in forex rates in key markets during the first half…

TELKOM flagged an increase in revenue for the quarter that ended June 30, despite challenging economic conditions prevailing in South Africa, including load shedding. In its trading update, the mobile operator said yesterday that its group revenue grew 3.8% to R10.7 billion, boosted by data and fibre interest. However, core profit decreased by 4.2% to R2.2bn. Telkom reported that mobile revenue grew 5.2% to R5.5bn while mobile service revenue increased by 6.5%, and mobile data revenue rose by 9.9%. The trading update demonstrated the good performance of next- generation network (NGN) offerings despite challenging economic conditions prevailing in South Africa. Telkom Group CEO Serame Taukobong said: “Telkom has started the 2024 financial year with good momentum. Group performance was pleasing in the face of rolling power outages, muted economic growth,…