Star 2024-02-02

AIRPORTS Company South Africa (Acsa) has raised its hand as a potential strategic partner to facilitate the smooth movement of goods into key markets in the continent as the country started trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. South Africa this week commenced preferential trade with the first shipment of manufactured products to Ghana via the Port of Durban under the AfCFTA’s Guided Trade Initiative. The shipment was of forged grinding balls and high chrome grinding media products supplied to the platinum, gold, ferrochrome, base metals, power generation and cement industries. However, there are concerns about the efficiency of goods movement as Transnet National Ports Authority has been hobbled by logistical bottlenecks at the ports and rail caused by inadequate infrastructure. Acsa CEO Mpumi Mpofu said yesterday…

French entertainment group submits bid to acquire all of the shares that it does not already own MULTICHOICE’S share price rocketed more than 27% yesterday after Vivendi-owned French premium television channel Canal+ made a R31.7 billion offer to buy the rest of the shares in pan-African pay-TV group MultiChoice. MultiChoice, which operates in more than 50 countries and is struggling with dwindling revenues in the face of tough competition, said yesterday Canal+ had submitted an offer to acquire all of the issued shares of MultiChoice that it does not already own, in a deal that could lead to Canal+ listing on the JSE. Canal+ already holds 31.7% of MultiChoice, and is its biggest shareholder. It was to offer MultiChoice shareholders R105 cash per share, representing a 40% premium to…

THE NATIONAL Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), which reported a 3.8% fall in sales of new vehicles for January, is looking to new energy vehicle (NEV) regulatory framework announcements by Finance Minister Enoch Godon-gwana in the National Budget Speech on February 21 to stimulate demand. According to Naamsa’s NEV Road- map report released last year, South Africa has to incentivise a sustained shift in domestic market demand for NEVs to attain a meaningful transition to the new models. After some delay, Naamsa is now “looking forward to the new NEV regulatory framework details to be announced in the 2024 National Budget Speech on February 21, 2024” by Godongwana. Naamsa said yesterday: “It would provide a much-needed injection of confidence for the South African automotive industry to accelerate…

DELOITTE has warned South Africans to prepare for “short-term” pain as the government will have to continue implementing expenditure cuts in a bid to stabilise the country’s unsustainable debt burden. In its pre-Budget briefing yesterday, the auditing firm advised that maintaining a fiscal policy stance that stabilised debt would unlock much-needed growth and, in turn, address many social and developmental woes the country faced. Deloitte South Africa chief economist Hannah Marais said South Africa’s public finances, both current and outlook, had weakened significantly in 2023 as the National Treasury now expected a Budget deficit of R56.8 billion. Hannah said this meant that gross debt was expected to rise to 77.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the 2025/26 fiscal year, with the budget deficit increasing to 4.9% of GDP,…

COAL IS HERE to stay and protagonists on both sides of the coal debate should work together to reduce carbon emissions, FutureCoal’s chairperson July Ndlovu told the 19th McCloskey Southern A!frican Coal Conference in Cape Town yesterday. Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa had to bail out of giving the keynote address at the conference due to an emergency Cabinet meeting. Silas Zimu from the Presidency gave the government’s view. Ndlovu, who is also the CEO of Thungela Resources, while presenting Industry Perspective from FutureCoal, said the rebranding of the World Coal Association into FutureCoal was an acknowledgement that coal was here to stay and that what was needed was to chart a pathway to the future that involved mining responsibly and minimising coal’s impact on the environment. “When I was preparing…

THUNGELA Resources, which is betting on expected dominance of coal as an energy resource, has successfully registered with the Dubai Multi Commodity Center Authority (DMCCA) in a major boost for the company’s coal exports from South Africa and Australia. Although coal prices have been muted, especially in the European market, many producers have been shifting focus to the Asia-Pacific market and others. The Middle East market has been roiled by unrest following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Thungela registered with the DMCCA last month, the company confirmed yesterday, helping to push up its share price on the JSE by about 0.5% in afternoon trade. The company’s stock, which is down 22% in the year to date comparative, will house its export marketing team under Thungela…