Star 2024-02-14

WELL-KNOWN South African business-person, Reuel Khoza, has become a shareholder in privately owned shopping centre investor and developer, Flanagan & Gerard Property Group. Khoza’s investment – the extent of which was not disclosed – was built on a decades-long relationship with the company’s founders, Patrick Flanagan and Peter Gerard, and furthered by Khoza’s long-held interest in property and real estate investment, a statement said yesterday. Khoza is a former board chairperson of Nedbank Group, the Public Investment Corporation, Globeleq, Eskom, and GlaxoSmithKline SA. He has held many directorships, including at the JSE, Liberty Life, Standard Bank Group, Old Mutual, Nampak and IBM South Africa. He also farms. Khoza is currently chairperson of Discovery Bank as well as Dzana Investments, an investment holding company with interests in property, energy, education, health…

To help put the broader group on a better financial footing after steep losses last year TRANSACTION Capital’s share price ramped up 6% after it announced firmed up plans to list WeBuyCars (WBC) on the JSE, and to raise about R750 million once the used car sales subsidiary was unbundled from its parent. There would also be a private placement of R500m. The unbundling and listing was anticipated for early April 2024. Transaction Capital’s share price closed 9.99% higher at R8.26 on the JSE yesterday, well down from R32.73 a year ago on the same day, with the decline in line with that of the group’s general financial performance. Two weeks ago, the group said it was considering listing WBC as a way to help put the broader group…

SOUTH African banks will struggle with rising non-performing loans this year as consumers suffer from narrowing savings and elevated interest rates, although the Moody’s ratings agency has maintained a stable outlook for the country’s financial services sector. It said South Africa would have to balance out macroeconomic and asset risks through issuance of loss-absorbing instruments. Moody’s expects South Africa’s gross domestic product to grow by 1.5% this year and sees an uptick in the banks’ non-performing loans ratio to between 6% and 7% of gross loans from 5.5% in October 2023. “High interest rates, subdued growth and narrowing savings buffers will weaken borrowers’ repayment capacity. Unsecured consumers loans are particularly exposed,” Moody’s said in a Banking System Outlook report for South Africa yesterday. Further worsening the situation was an increase…

MINING output in South Africa is expected to remain subdued this year, due to weak global demand, low commodity prices and domestic economic headwinds, in spite of ending 2023 on a positive note. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday said that mining production fell marginally by 0.4% in 2023, compared to a steep 7.2% plunge in 2022 and an increase of 12.7% in 2021, mainly due to a decline in diamonds. Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared with a contraction of 0.9% during the third quarter, driven largely by platinum group metals (PGMs) and coal. This suggests that the mining sector made a positive contribution to 2023’s fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth, meaning that the economy avoided a technical recession. StatsSA’s…

THE BRITISH business of the Body Shop has collapsed into administration, putting 2 000 jobs at risk at the one-time pioneering ethical cosmetics retailer. Founded in Brighton, southern England, in 1976 by late environmentalist and human rights activist Anita Roddick, the Body Shop was famous for promoting natural, ethically sourced products and rejecting animal testing. The retailer was one of the most popular on the British high street in the 1980s and 1990s, but has faced much greater competition from newcomers in recent years, including from those also touting ethical credentials. FRP, the business advisory firm appointed as administrator, yesterday said the Body Shop’s 199 UK stores and online service would continue to trade. “The joint administrators will now consider all options to find a way forward for the…

SOUTH Africa is a resilient country and economy that is open for business and has great potential. These were my thoughts as I recently participated at the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Convening 3 000 leaders under the theme “Rebuilding Trust”, Davos is a great global platform for advancing dialogue, co-operation and action-oriented partnership. Not only can government, business and civil society immerse themselves in meaningful dialogue, while learning from other countries, it is a great opportunity to position the countrys economic potential to investors. This is a critical year for South Africa and the rest of the world due to the number of pressing issues such as geopolitical tension, unemployment, inequality and climate change. With all these issues one can argue…