Star 2023-10-25

FAMOUS Brands, the franchisor group with some 2 522 restaurants in South Africa, has described a troubling picture of the tough operating environment that affects restaurateurs in this country. As Africa’s largest restaurant franchisor, Famous Brands also has 311 stores in 17 countries in the rest of Africa and the Middle East, and 65 restaurants in the UK. Yesterday the company announced it had to step in to help its franchisees in South Africa in March with a scheme to lower franchise fees during periods of load shedding, which cost the group R11.6 million. The group, which owns brands such as Steers, Debonairs Pizza, Fishaways and Wimpy, said the local restaurant industry is under strain due to rising costs, alternative power costs and reduced consumer spending. “South African…

HUMAN rights lawyer Richard Spoor has filed another class action lawsuit in the High Court in Gauteng against coal mining companies owned or formerly owned by Anglo American, on behalf of former coal miners who contracted coal mine dust lung disease while working in their mines. In a statement, Spoor said the suit was a significant attempt to address the historical issues faced by coal miners who had unfortunately not been compensated for their hardships. Spoor said the application for certification of a class action is being brought against nine mining companies owned, or formerly owned by the Anglo American Group, which are: Anglo American Inyosi Coal, Anglo American South Africa Limited, Butsanani Energy Investment Holdings, Mafube Coal Mining, Rietvlei Mining, South Africa Coal Operations, Thungela Operations, Thungela Resources Holdings,…

SOUTH African Airways (SAA) will be relaunching direct flights to Brazil, nearly four years after it discon- tinued air services on some of its routes, including to São Paulo, as part of the restructuring programme during the business rescue process. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) yesterday confirmed that the national carrier will once again carry the South African flag to Brazil, which will be the airline’s first intercontinental route following its successful business rescue. SAA’s inaugural flights to São Paulo will depart from Cape Town on October 31, and from Johannesburg on November 6. This comes as the DPE Minister Pravin Gordhan will officially relaunch SAA tomorrow as the airline marks two years since the return to the skies. Gordhan said that the relaunch of the route to São…

Protracted legal battle between Sanral and construction industry would have dire result MASTER Builders South Africa (MBSA) yesterday welcomed the decision by the board of South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to withdraw its new controversial Preferential Procurement Policy to avert lengthy court battles, despite the parastatal cancelling all existing advertised tenders that had not yet closed. MBSA is the leading national representative body in the building and construction industry in South Africa. The new policy was adopted by the board on May 23, but came to loggerheads with the construction industry, which said the new policy would cost the economy billions of rands. Subsequently, numerous legal salvos were fired by various parties. Sanral said in a statement yesterday that it intended to commence a process on a date…

IT HAS BEEN a transformative year for the Sekunjalo Group’s Premier Fishing, marked by numerous developments that are set to solidify its position as a prominent player in both the local and international markets. Premier Fishing’s squid sector experienced a significant resurgence earlier this year. After enduring a period of low spawning rates and challenging climatic conditions, squid stocks made a remarkable recovery. This resurgence led to Premier Fishing’s catch rates, both in terms of what was landed and sold, returning to their customary high levels. The success of the squid season has significantly contributed to the overall excellent performance of the Group to date. Moreover, Premier Fishing took strategic steps to consolidate its presence in the South African squid market. In March, the company purchased additional shares in Talhado…

KUMBA Iron Ore said yesterday that its sales in the third quarter dropped by 12% year-on-year due to mul- tiple equipment breakdowns at the Saldanha Port in the Western Cape. In its production and sales report for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023, the group said the sales dropped to 8.9 million tons. The Anglo American subsidiary said adverse weather conditions also negatively affected the sales. The group reported that it achieved a total production of 9.7 million tons, which reflects an increase of 4% compared to quarter two 2023 and a 2% decrease relative to quarter three (Q3) 2022, in line with Transnet’s logistics performance. Kumba’s CEO, Mpumi Zikalala said: “Although total production was 2% lower compared to the prior period of Q3 2022, we have…