Star 2024-09-17

AIRBUS has announced the opening of its new Customer Support Centre in Johannesburg. “This newly established centre will contribute to strengthening Airbus’s local presence and supporting the growth of the African ecosystem. Serving as a hub for customers in the region, the new office will provide tailored support and enhance operational efficiency,” it said in a statement yesterday. The Customer Support Centre would drive the development of local capabilities ensuring access to maintenance and training resources, while fostering a stronger, more collaborative ecosystem in the region. Airbus’s most recent Global Market Forecast, predicts that commercial demand for Africa would reach 1 460 passenger and freight aircraft by 2043, comprising 1 210 single-aisle aircraft and 250 widebody aircraft. Additionally, Airbus’s Global Services Forecast estimated that Africa would…

CONFIDENCE levels among local manufacturers has remained stable and indicated optimism on the back of the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) despite persisting headwinds in policy formulation and political differences. According to the latest Absa Manu- facturing Survey released yesterday, confidence held steady at 28 points during the third quarter, driven mainly by manufacturers’ optimism regarding policy direction after a peaceful election and the formation of the GNU. The GNU has been a success story for the business sector post the elections, but the working arrangement of more than five political parties participating in the government has faced teething problems due to political differences, as evident in the signing of the National Health Insurance and the Basic Education Laws Amendment into law. Prior to the elections,…

SPEAR, a real estate investment trust (Reit) focused on investing in real estate within the Western Cape region, said yesterday that it had successfully completed an equity capital raise of R457.8 million via a vendor consideration placement. This announcement follows the recent unconditional status of the acquisition of the Emira Western Cape portfolio, adding further impetus to its Western Cape-only-focused growth strategy. The vendor consideration placement will allow the issuance of 5 030 2197 new shares to public shareholders at an issue price of R9.10 per share. This equity placement was completed at a 1% discount to Spear’s 30-day VWAP, (volume-weighted average price), being R9.19 per share before September 13, 2024. The listing and issuance of the new shares was expected to start on Monday, September…

SASOL yesterday announced that Muriel Dube has been appointed chairperson of the board with effect from the end of last week. Sasol said it was pleased to pass the reins of chairperson to someone of Dube’s calibre and was confident she would provide the necessary direction and leadership as the company intensifies its focus on progressing a sustainable future business. Dube, who joined the board of Sasol as an independent non-executive director in 2018, holds an MSc degree in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford University and degrees in BA Human Sciences and BA Honours Politics. “She has an extensive background in sustainability-, commercial-, finance- and leadership roles,” said Sasol in a statement. “She previously served as the chief negotiator for the Government of South Africa in climate change negotiations…

More than 96% of the group’s cars assembled at the plant are exported ABOUT 300 workers at BMW’s Rosslyn plant, north of Pretoria, downed tools yesterday over claims of “mass dismissals”. BMW, headquartered in Germany, has dismissed these allegations as unfounded rumours. This strike follows a recent labour dispute in the automotive sector, where workers from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) struck at Ford South Africa’s Silverton plant in Pretoria in July. The strike was resolved when Ford paid workers a R20 000 bonus. Yesterday, a worker at BMW’s Rosslyn plant said on condition of anonymity that staff were disgruntled over alleged dismissals at the plant. He would not provide further information and several spokespeople from Numsa, the union representing the workers who have downed…

THE LIFELINE of South Africa’s eco- nomy, small businesses, has shown resilience and maintained confidence in the future after the national elections this year. This was one of the key findings of the Q2 2024 SME Confidence Index. Considering that political change and government formation often result in destabilised business confidence, David Morobe, the executive general manager for Impact Investing at Business Partners Limited, said that the cautious optimism shown by SMEs was encouraging. “The formation of the government of national unity (GNU) seems to have boosted SME confidence here, with 60.96% of SMEs surveyed expressing the belief that the inclusion of more political parties in government will make South Africa a more attractive place for investors, potentially stimulating business growth.” Most SMEs described the business landscape as stable, with…