Star 2024-03-13

CAPITEC Bank Holdings increased its stake in fintech Avafin Holdings in a €26.3 million (R534.6m) deal, effectively taking full control and positioning the local bank to expand into online, unsecured consumer lending in other developing countries, analysts said yesterday. Capitec announced yesterday that the Prudential Authority of the South African Reserve Bank had approved a transaction for Capitec to increase its shareholding in Avafin to 97.69% from 40.66%. The initial 40.66% had been acquired by Capitec in 2017. The deal provided Capitec with the opportunity to gain experience in the international online consumer credit market, management of operations and risk in foreign markets, and international diversification of Capitec’s income sources, Capitec directors said in a regulatory JSE notice. Avafin’s management would continue to hold the rest of the shares in…

TRADE in the shares of Truworths Zimbabwe, in which the JSE-listed Truworths has a 34% stake, have been suspended from the country’s stock exchange to enable the struggling clothing and apparel retailer to sort out its going concern status over the next three months. Zimbabwean retailers are struggling in an increasingly informal market. Retailers in the country have complained of higher taxation and the effect of cheaply imported textiles products as having a toll on their earnings potential. For Truworths Zimbabwe, these challenges have resulted in the company shutting down branches. The company expects the outlook period to be “uncertain, unstable” and complex, especially after the suspension of its shares from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). “The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Limited hereby notifies the investing public of the voluntary suspension…

However top retailer says it has not notified Hyprop of any store closures Retailer Pick n Pay yesterday was caught in the crossfire of real estate company Hyprop explaining in a trading statement for the interim period why it can’t dish up a dividend when it reports its results today. Hyprop for the interim period ended December 31, 2023, cited economic uncertainties from the waning fortunes of Pick n Pay, one of its bigger tenants, as part of the reasons for its decision to skip its interim dividend. Hyprop’s shares yesterday slid 4.2% to close at R31.05, while Pick n Pay shares fell 2.13% to close at R17 as the market digested the lack of a dividend. Hyprop also mentioned potential political upheavals from the upcoming May 2024 elections and…

A DIRECT settlement mechanism was vital to facilitate trade as intra-country payments were costly, delegates heard at the Second Session of the South Africa-Ghana Bi-National Commission (BNC) held yesterday. President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed President Nana Akufo-Addo and his delegation. “We are pleased to host this business forum to explore business opportunities that enhance our bilateral economic relations,” he said. South Africa was already the largest purchaser of Ghanaian exports in Africa, and the third-largest importer of Ghana’s products globally, he said. On the investment front, South African companies have invested in 53 projects across Ghana with an estimated value of $1.4 billion (R26.2bn) in capital investment between January 2003 and January 2024. Ramaphosa said: “South Africa and Ghana have untapped economic potential and much more needs to be…

WHILE South Africa is making steady progress in its efforts to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, it will require “a significant effort” from all relevant authorities in the country to meet the deadline at the end of January 2025 to address remaining shortcomings identified by the FATF, according to the National Treasury. South Africa’s greylisting woes started in 2019 when the global financial crime watchdog FATF red-flagged the country for high levels of corruption. This meant that South Africa had to address its partial compliance or non-compliance with 20 of the FATF’s “Forty Recommendations” by February 2023. When the FATF performed its mutual evaluation (peer review) of South Africa in November 2019, only 21 months had passed since Jacob Zuma had resigned as President.…

THE SOUTH African Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) holds the registration details of companies, co-operatives and intellectual property rights within a vast database that comprises ID numbers, addresses, contact information and more. It has also recently been compromised in a hack that has left millions of companies vulnerable. The CIPC has stated that it is “taking every reasonable step to ensure that all CIPC systems and platforms are safe and protected from unauthorised and unlawful access”. However, there is a lack of visi- bility on what type of information was stolen, which is a very real concern, as some of the data should not be in the public domain, much less in the hands of hackers. The CIPC site does allow for organisations and individuals to verify a company…