Star 2023-09-04

State freight rail business drops 13.6% for the 2023 year, from 173 million to 149 million tons PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has instructed the newly appointed Transnet board to look at methods to turn around the entity's woes, as the parastatal reported a R5.7 billion loss for its 2023 year. This comes after Transnet released its financial results on Friday, in which it posted a massive loss due to the volumes delivered by its freight rail business dropping 13.6% during the period from 173 million to 149 million tons. The group’s latest results show that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation decreased 2.1% to R23bn, while operating expenditure increased 2% to R45.9bn. Revenue increased by just 0.6% to R68.9bn, from a previous…

OLD MUTUAL has announced that the four-year legal battle with its former CEO Peter Moyo has ended following the Constitutional Court dismissing his case. This comes after the Constitutional Court dismissed Moyo’s application to appeal against a High Court decision made in 2022 which dismissed the former CEO’s claim of R250 million in damages against the company. The spat between Old Mutual and Moyo started in May 2019 when he was suspended for an alleged conflict of interest. Old Mutual said the situation started because the former CEO violated the terms of his employ- ment contract by allegedly placing his private financial interests ahead of the company. “In flagrant disregard of the provisions in his employment contract designed to manage conflicts of interest between NMT Capital (a company Moyo…

THE US DOLLAR will eventually be dethroned as the dominant global currency and the BRICS can create viable alternatives, said Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned economist and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. “The BRICS can create viable alternatives to the dollar. In this sense, yes, the dollar will be dethroned as the overwhelmingly dominant global currency,” Sachs said. “That is inevitable in the long run in any event, given the declining share of US gross domestic product and global trade." The BRICS would hasten the transition to a multi-currency system, and the US dollar would still have its role, but a much smaller one among many currencies, Sachs added. Former chief economist of Goldman Sachs Jim O’Neill said the US dollar could be dethroned only when China wants…

THE NATIONAL Treasury said it would implement a number of cost-cutting measures to rein in government spending, including a hiring freeze, after a shortfall in revenue collection. The Treasury, in response to an ailing economy, said it had outlined the measures in a letter addressed to national departments, provinces and public entities. Weekend media reported hat the measures also included a halt in advertising new procurement contracts for all infrastructure projects. Responding to Reuters questions, the Treasury said the cost-cutting plan was “due to the weak performance of the economy and the shortfalls in revenue collection”. The Treasury added that it would work with all departments, provinces and public entities to identify further measures to consolidate budgets as “the measures articulated in the letter will not by themselves fully restore…

SASOL said on Friday that across the world, the past year was one of significant volatility as the company was hit with lower overall production, which impacted profitability for the year. In its integrated report released on Friday, Sasol chairperson Sipho Nkosi said apart from the devastating humanitarian toll, the Russia/Ukraine war had contributed to stubborn inflation and high-interest rates, subdued economic growth, and disruption to the energy ecosystem and the pace and scale of the energy transition. “There is no doubt that the challenge of our time is to reshape the sector while maintaining the supply of affordable and sustainable energy to meet the needs of people while safeguarding the planet from environmental degradation. “In addition to the impact of global developments on South Africa’s economy, its weak performance…

THE R4.8 BILLION investment pledge announced by the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturer (Naacam) last week reflects the “strong vote of confidence in the South African economy”, Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel said in a statement on Friday. Naacam CEO Renai Moothilal on Friday confirmed that the pledge was consolidated from a group of 16 exhibitors at the event and reflected committed investments to be implemented between now and the end of 2024. This group, coming from different regions and segments of component manufacturing, was a mix of large multinational and domestic component manufacturers as well as emerging black industrialists. Patel in a statement welcomed the investment pledges, saying it would support more than 10 000 jobs. Patel said he was…