Star 2023-11-07

DIS-CHEM has pledged R12 million, R1m for every point scored in the Rugby World Cup (RWC) final match, to be directed towards tackling South African challenges. The retail pharmacy’s CEO Rui Morais was so inspired by the sentiment change in South Africa following Saturday’s Springbok RWC victory, that he penned a letter to Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and his team. The letter celebrated the big shift in sentiment brought about by the Springbok’s momentous fourth RWC win. Dis-Chem said that as a national brand committed to doing national good, it would commit to fund one sustainable and measurable project, per month, at R1m, over 12 months. “Each project, which will be identified with input from Dis-Chem staff, will address relevant concerns. This corporate pledge is separate from the support…

RENERGEN, owner and operator of South Africa’s first liquid natural gas and helium onshore production project, saw its share price fall more than 5% yesterday following the announcement on Friday that its CEO is moving temporarily to the US to oversee the Nasdaq initial public offering (IPO). The share price closed 8.13% lower at R13.10 on the JSE yesterday, down from R14.26 on Friday, from R18 three months ago and from R27.50 a year ago. The company recently had to release additional information on its operations after it faced online criticism, most notably from shareholder activist Albie Cilliers, who questioned the sustainability of the project and the transparency of the company. The company said that capital to unlock the funding for Phase 2 of the project, to significantly expand helium…

GENDER parity in the boards of JSE-listed companies remains an elusive concept overall as men continue to dominate the largest number of higher positions in relation to women. The Status of Gender on JSE-listed boards report revealed that there were 897 male non-executive directors on JSE-listed boards compared to 480 women non-executive directors, with board chairs being 83% male and 17% female. In terms of JSE-listed company CEOs, 226 were men compared to only 18 women, and the ratio of chief financial officers was 164 males to 45 females. The report, which was released yesterday, suggested there has been an improvement in gender representation metrics on these boards, but there remained a lot that needs to be done. Now in its sixth year, the report was compiled from information publicly…

Robert Gumede appears to have swayed Tongaat’s business rescue prectitioners to make him the preferred bidder TERRIS Consortium, fronted by Mpu- malanga businessman, Robert Gu- mede, may have swayed Tongaat Hulett’s business rescue practitioners to emerge as the preferred bidder for the troubled South African agro-processing firm’s assets on account of financial backing from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) under questionable circumstances. Business rescue practitioners in Tongaat Hulett, with a net debt of R7.6 billion and currently under business rescue, has over the past months confirmed Kagera, a Tanzanian outfit as the preferred bidder. It also emerged this month that RGS, a Mozambican outfit had also been enlisted as a second preferred bidder. Now, Gumede’s Terris Consortium, which has previously complained that Kagera had been wrongly picked as…

REDEFINE Properties raised its dividend only 1.9% to 43.80 cents for the year to August 31, but its management believes there is cause for optimism that the property cycle has bottomed. They believe 2024 will be a turning point when interest rates begin to ease. Although the environment was uncertain, the group forecast financial 2024 distributable income to be between 48c and 52c a share. CEO Andrew König said in an online presentation, however, the reason for the flat forecast was due to the prediction of interest rates only declining towards the end of 2024, outside their 2024 financial year. He said the group would by then have “taken the pain” of the high interest rate environment, and would benefit more from lower interest rates through a “multiplier…

DIVERSIFIED chemicals solutions group, AECI, said it recorded strong results for the nine months to September 30 due to increases in mining explosives sales in Southern Africa, central Africa and Asia Pacific, a weaker exchange rate and new contracts. Revenue and earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) were up compared with the prior period after solid growth in AECI Mining, the group said in a trading update yesterday. There was improved profitability following the fulfilments of new contracts in Asia Pacific and the Rest of Africa. Revenue in AECI Agri Health and AECI Water was higher than the prior period due to higher selling prices and moderately higher sales volumes. However, the lag in cost recovery affected margins, and this was expected to correct in the last quarter of this…