Star 2024-12-10

Italtile, the home improvement and building materials retailer, distributor, and manufacturer, yesterday said it continued to trade in an environment of deflationary pricing and margin pressure in the five months to November 30, and sales growth was slim. There was increased retail competition, and many retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers remained over-stocked, the group said in a sales update yesterday. Many commentators believe the formation of the Government of National Unity, fuel price cuts, lower inflation, lower interest rates, and the two-pot pension payouts have improved the financial lot of many consumers. However, the group said: “Although there are early signs of green shoots, the sustainability of this trend has yet to be proved.” “The economic stimulus afforded by these developments will take time to filter through and significantly improve demand…

The disposal of Sibanye-Stillwater’s Beatrix 4 Shaft for R500 million to Neo Energy Metals will help it prioritise capital allocation from its balance sheet towards projects that are currently under development. Sibanye-Stillwater operates platinum group metals and gold mining operations in South Africa. Beatrix, including the Beatrix 4 Shaft located in the Free State goldfields, was one of the three assets acquired from Gold Fields International in February 2013 and also holds uranium deposits. The Beatrix 4 operation was placed under care and maintenance in September last year due to depleting gold reserves and depressed uranium prices. As at the end of last year, the entire Beatrix operation had total surface and underground gold mineral reserves of 700 000 ounces and mineral resources of 7.6 million ounces. The Beatrix 4…

Chairperson Sangqu says state-owned logistics company could be profitable in 2025/26 Transnet chairperson Andile Sangqu revealed that the state-owned logistics company has incurred an alarming R4 billion loss in potential revenue this financial year, primarily attributed to rampant cable theft and widespread vandalism. Speaking in a Radio 702 interview yesterday, Sangqu said these factors, along with a daunting maintenance backlog, posed significant hurdles to the entity’s broader recovery efforts. However, Sangqu said Transnet’s recovery plan had its positive indicators in the clearing of backlogs at ports, building closer collaborations with the private sector, and stabilising of the executive floor but was bogged down by a balance sheet tilting on heavy interest costs, antiquated equipment, cable theft and a dysfunctional rail network. He said the entity was also up to its…

South Africa will use its Group of Twenty (G20) presidency to secure urgent progress on shared goals through several priority actions such as strengthening disaster resilience and response, ensuring debt sustainability for low-income countries, mobilising finance for a just energy transition, and harnessing critical minerals for inclusive growth and development. This was said by Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Ronald Lamola, at the first G20 Sherpas Meeting in Johannesburg. The Sherpa Track is led by the personal representatives of G20 leaders, and oversees negotiations and discusses the points that form the summit’s agenda, and co-ordinates most of the work. This comes as South Africa commenced with the first engagement of the more than 130 meetings that will precede the G20 Summit in November 2025 after assuming the G20 presidency…

Web browser pioneer Marc Andreessen recently made waves with claims that Washington regulators are “de-banking” people - that is, directing banks to cut off accounts belonging to cryptocurrency executives, tech leaders and political enemies of the Biden administration. The claims also popped up throughout the election cycle, including from Donald Trump. Do banks really de-bank their customers? Sometimes - if customers are engaged in questionable or unusual behavior that’s not consistent with “safety and soundness.” That’s always been the case. But is there a concerted top-down initiative by the Biden administration to de-bank purely according to politics as Andreessen describes it? Experts say there’s no evidence for that. Here’s what to know about “de-banking.” What’s the accusation? Andreessen appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast and made lots of claims over a…

Infrastructure plays a critical role in driving growth and economic development in South Africa, particularly through projects involving the country’s Energy, Logistics and Water sectors. The country is currently experiencing a significant infrastructure backlog in its electricity supply landscape and requires investment to expand infrastructure across all elements of generation, transmission and distribution. Infrastructure projects of this nature rely on specialised equipment, such as towers, transformers, high voltage equipment, switchgear, electric motors, alternators, turbines, and associated products, some of which are imported. Additionally, South Africa is currently experiencing a logistics crisis as it is unable to transport the required volumes of commodities to our ports for export. Therefore, as a country, we are missing out on economic opportunities due to the lack of infrastructure, both in the energy and logistics…