Star 2024-06-03

DIS-CHEM Pharmacies raised its final dividend 22% to 22.49 cents a share in the year to March 1, 2024, after headline earnings a share fell slightly, mainly due to an imbalance in six month performances in previous years. Shares had dipped 4.63% to close at R31.28 on the JSE on Friday, but the price is nonetheless a massive 44% higher than a year before. The company said on Friday that it would invest in OneSpark, a life insurance business that Dis-Chem said possesses “the experience, capability and proprietary technology to offer transformative insurance products that align to the better health mandate of the Dis-Chem brand”. Dis-Chem’s R156 million share subscription investment would result in it holding a 50% stake in OneSpark. OneSpark was established by a team of actuaries…

SOUTH Africa recorded an improved pre- liminary trade balance surplus of R10.5 bil- lion in April, the SA Revenue Service (Sars) said on Friday. This surplus was attributable to exports of R169.5bn and imports of R159.1bn, inclusive of trade with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia. The result was ahead of consensus (Bloomberg) of an R8.1bn surplus. The year-to-date preliminary trade balance surplus of R26.6bn was an improvement from the R6.7bn trade balance surplus for the comparable period in 2023, Sars said. On a year-on-year basis, export flows for April at R169.5bn were 4.2% higher from the prior year, while import flows were 0.8% higher at R159.1bn. Sars said export flows increased in April, driven by platinum group metals, gold and passenger vehicles. Imports flows increased on the back…

IT GROUP EOH Holdings, which was under pressure from its shareholders to change its board, on Friday announced a board shake-up and the resignation of its interim CEO and chairperson, Andrew Mthembu. Marius de la Rey has been appointed as interim CEO. Mthembu was appointed interim CEO following EOH CEO Stephen van Coller’s resignation on March 31. Van Coller was appointed in 2018 to clean up corruption at the firm after an ENSafrica investigation into EOH’s dealings revealed many instances of governance failings and wrongdoing. Fatima Newman has stepped down as an executive director, but will remain in her capacity as the CEO of EasyHQ, and Bharti Harie has resigned as independent non-executive director. Veronica Motloutsi has been appointed as independent non-executive director, Dennis Venter has been appointed as non-independent…

IN SPITE OF fuel prices in South Africa forecast to experience a significant decline in June, motorists could soon find themselves digging deeper into their pockets as oil-producing countries are set to ramp up the international price of Brent Crude oil. This comes on the back of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (Opec+) meeting where members agreed to extend oil supply cuts into 2025, and review voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day which are set to expire at the end of June. Opec+ Ministers met in Riyadh yesterday where Saudi Arabia and its partners were widely expected to prolong supply cuts into the second half of 2024 and implement deep cuts in 2025. Oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab…

SOUTH Korea will aim to secure critical mineral imports and boost trade ties with Africa as President Yoon Suk Yeol hosts dozens of Heads of State from the continent at a major summit tomorrow. Africa’s abundant mineral resources are considered important globally for sectors ranging from electric vehicle manufacturing to defence industries. South Korea is one of the world’s largest producers of high-tech semiconductors, and home to top memory chip makers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The East Asian country “is a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse, but it relies heavily on imports for more than 95% of its raw mineral needs”, Yoon told AFP in written comments provided by the president’s office. From cobalt to platinum, countries across Africa have deep reserves of the critical minerals needed to power the semiconductor…

AGRISA says it hopes government’s “vigorous” development of water- related legislation and policy will be carried over into the country’s seventh administration, regardless of the outcome of this year’s national and provincial elections. South Africa’s biggest agricultural organisation said on Friday that the sixth administration would be remembered as a particularly energetic one when it came to water governance, but noted that most of the proposed legislative and policy changes of the past five years remain unfinalised. According to AgriSA, the developments left hanging include the conver- sion of irrigation boards to water user associations; hydraulic fracturing regulations; the pricing strategy on raw water charges; regulations regarding the procedural requirements for water use licence applications; and, the Na- tional Water Amendment Bill. It said another major concern was…