Star 2023-09-06

SHOPRITE said yesterday 2023 was extraordinary as the retailer gained record levels of market share, and increased profits and dividends despite footing a hefty R1.3 billion diesel bill amid unprecedented levels of load shedding. In its group results for the 52 weeks ended July 2, 2023, South Africa’s largest grocer said headline earnings per share from continuing operations of 1 166.2 cents in the year ended July 2, from 1 063.9 a year earlier. Shoprite said it gained record levels of market share as sales of merchandise increased by 16.9% to R215bn, underpinned by its core Supermarkets RSA segment. Supermarkets RSA sales of merchandise increased by 17.8% to R173.6bn The board declared a final dividend of 415c, compared to 2022’s 367c per ordinary…

EELECTRICITY Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has defended the intensified philosophy maintenance programme at Eskom in spite of the power utility implementing heightened load shedding. Eskom yesterday ramped up load shedding to stage 6 due to the loss of a further two generation units amid an increase in generation planned maintenance. Ramokgopa said the reason for the deterioration of the generating capa- city was that Eskom had not been sticking to its philosophy maintenance for many years, which had led to generation units frequently breaking down. The Minister said this had to do with the fact that Eskom’s balance sheet was severely compromised and there were very little resources to invest on maintenance. He said part of the National Treasury’s recent R254 billion fiscal relief was to ensure that…

This comes as the real GDP had expanded by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2023 THE ECONOMIC outlook in South Africa has remained bleak for the rest of the year as intensified load shedding dwindles activity, in spite of gross do- mestic product (GDP) rising for the second consecutive quarter. This comes as the real GDP expanded by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2023 ending in June after a 0.4% expansion in the first quarter ending in March. This was better than market forecasts of a 0.1% increase in part due to easing rolling load shedding, but the second quarter GDP remained lower than the peak reached in the third quarter of 2022. Statistics…

OVER TIME the hefty fuel price increases South Africa faces would definitely dent the number of vehicles being sold, National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam) executive director Renai Moothilal said yesterday. South Africans today face another massive petrol price increase that will push the price of all petrol grades above the R24 mark. This as petrol prices went up by R1.71 per litre, and diesel increased by between R2.76 and R2.84 a litre from Wednesday. Moothilal said they already saw shifts in consumer preferences on vehicle ownership in general and high fuel prices were adding to this. “Consumers may find more value in concepts like ride sharing and car pooling, in addition to existing public transport options,” he said in an email interview. If consumers found…

THE NEWLY launched SanlamAllianz joint venture will provide insurance and financial services in 27 African markets, creating a R35 billion pan- African non-banking financial services company, Sanlam said yesterday. Sanlam said that all the conditions for its proposed transaction with global integrated financial services group Allianz SE had now been met. On May 4, 2022 Sanlam and Allianz SE had entered into agreements for a long-term joint venture arrangement regarding their operations on the African continent, outside of South Africa. Sanlam and Allianz would contribute their African operations into a new joint venture company. The initial shareholding split of Sanlam and Allianz in the JVCo was agreed at 60:40, respectively, although there were provisions for post-closing adjustments for a final split. Sanlam’s operations in Namibia would be contributed to JVCo…

THE FINANCIAL Sector Conduct Au- thority (FSCA), which supervises bank compliance around “Conduct Standards” in the treatment of clients, is currently assessing the extent to which fairness is understood and applied across the banking sector, when decisions are taken to close bank accounts. This was according to a response from the National Treasury to questions submitted to it by Business Report. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture’s chairperson chief Justice Raymond Zondo has recommended that existing legislation be changed, or that new laws be introduced, that will require banks to allow customers to defend themselves before their accounts are shut down. Recently the bank accounts of the companies owned by Sekunjalo Group, including that of Independent Media, the owner of this newspaper, were threatened with closure, and various…