Star 2023-11-24

TODAY South African consumers are expected to be on the lookout for good-value deals on Black Friday amid a cost-of-living crisis. Data from the Bureau of Market Research (BMR) shows that R7 billion more is likely to be spent on goods during this period compared to last year. Research by the BMR on behalf of retailer finance provider Capital Connect found that Black Friday spending was expected to increase from R19bn last year to R26.6bn this year and create approximately 150 000 seasonal or temporary jobs. Anton Hugo, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) South Africa retail and consumer industry head, said the net impact of Black Friday/Cyber Monday on retail income was challenging to calculate accurately, because of some shift in holiday spending from December to November. “Nonetheless, South African re-…

The Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to keep the repurchase rate at 8.25% The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has left the door ajar for further interest rate hikes in the new year if consumer inflation swings higher than the current upper limit of 5.9% in November and December, even though market sentiment was that rates have peaked. In a hawkish statement yesterday, the SARB’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously decided to keep the repurchase rate (repo rate) unchanged at a 14-year high of 8.25%, leaving the prime lending rate at 11.75% per annum. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago warned that serious upside risks to the inflation outlook remained and the MPC was ready to act should risks begin to materialise especially as the rand weakened over the past year, depreciating…

FINANCIAL and insurance services group Discovery, which is facing complaints over unfair treatment of its health insurance clients, has denied that it is pursuing re-domiciling of its operations from South Africa to London, even as speculation swirled around the purpose of CEO Adrian Gore’s travels abroad. Discovery offers banking, investment, health, life and vehicle insurance among other services to South Africans as well as to other international markets, including the UK. Financial and insurance industry sources in South Africa have said that the company was now focused more on its international business, with a source who declined to be named telling Business Report the group was considering moving its operations to London as woes mounted back in South Africa. Gore has spoken out about the National Health Insurance in recent…

THE SOUTH African Breweries (SAB) confirmed yesterday that its R5.8 billion investment commitment had been used to increase capacity at two of its plants. The investment was for civil works and new equipment to allow for increased local production for new product innovations. SAB announced this investment at the South African Investment Conference 2023 earlier in the year. Two of SAB’s plants were identified for these capacity upgrades, Prospecton Brewery in Durban and Ibhayi Brewery in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape. Richard Rivett-Carnac, the CEO of SAB, said in a statement: “We are dedicated to sustainable investments and economic growth. Our investments over time have contributed billions of rands to the South African gross domestic product (GDP), which, alongside the investment commitments pledged at the 2023 South African Investment…

SHIPPING conglomerate Maersk has not removed Cape Town as a port of call, but has started a weekly service out of the port through transhipment in a bid to avert the bottlenecks caused by weeks of congestion in South African ports. There are currently 96 vessels waiting at anchorage outside South African commercial ports, costing the economy R98 million a day in direct, sunken costs, at least R26m a day in indirect costs, and impeding at least R7 billion worth of goods from moving every day. Maersk’ media relations manager for Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa, Adhish Alawani, said they had not removed Cape Town from their services. Alawani said South Africa was an extremely important market and a strategic location for their operations, and they were…

ANCHOR Capital has remained optimistic about South Africa’s sovereign credit ratings in spite of three major ratings agencies holding it in below investment status. Last week, S&P Global Ratings affirmed South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency debt ratings, at BB- and BB, respectively, and maintain the stable outlook. Moody’s Investor Services also maintained South Africa’s stable outlook earlier this month, following the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), but rates South Africa’s long-term foreign debt at a sub-investment grade Ba2. In July, Fitch Ratings Fitch maintained its BB- credit rating on South Africa and kept its stable outlook on the country’s long-term foreign and local currency debt ratings. Anchor Capital’s investment analyst, Casey Delport, said yesterday that South Africa stood as a seemingly resilient protagonist in the tempest of economic…