Star 2025-03-03

Barloworld, a JSE-listed industrial giant, finds itself at the centre of a governance storm as the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), its second-largest shareholder with a 21.97% stake, on Friday publicly opposed a proposed takeover. The PIC announced it voted against the offer of R123.10 per share, citing concerns over corporate governance. “The PIC is concerned with corporate governance standards at Barloworld and the steps its board followed in considering the transaction in question,” the statement read, adding that it understands the strategic direction that OEM Caterpillar has taken to increasingly place the running of their dealerships into private hands. It also opposed the re-election of certain board members at the company’s annual general meeting the previous Friday. PIC said in a statement that it does not, in the ordinary course…

Efforts to tarnish the appointment of Professor John Lamola as the CEO of South African Airways (SAA) have sparked significant debate, with critics arguing that such attempts are not only unwarranted but also serve to undermine what is being described as black excellence. These concerns arise amidst allegations of political interference involving Deputy President Paul Mashatile and Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy, which some claim could detrimentally affect the airline’s leadership and its ongoing turnaround efforts. The DA recently threatened legal action by seeking to involve the Public Protector in the appointment, alleging undue political influence in Lamola’s rise to the executive role. Observers have pointed out that this approach risks destabilising a management team navigating a challenging landscape since SAA emerged from business rescue to achieve newfound profitability under…

Econometrix Report says 80 000 jobs across the value chain will be lost With ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) starting work to shut down its long steel production by April, a new study suggests that a more balanced competitive environment could arise if the government abolishes its PPS (price preference system) and export tax, which have contributed to the rapid decline of steelmaking in the country. An Econometrix Report on the economic impact of tax policies on South Africa’s steel sector and economy finds as much as 80 000 jobs across the value chain and 3 400 direct jobs will be lost with the closure of AMSA’s long business in April. The PPS was introduced in 2013 and mandates that scrap metal exporters sell material to local producers at discounted rates,…

South African investors can gain exposure to global growth trends through JSE-listed companies with international operations. One such opportunity is Bytes Technology Group, a UK-based IT services company benefiting from the accelerating shift toward digital transformation, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. What does Bytes Technology Group do? Bytes operates as a value-added reseller, acting as an intermediary between technology vendors and customers. The company primarily focuses on software, which contributes 90% of its gross profit: n including cloud-based and cybersecurity solutions.Bytes operates through two divisions: n Bytes Software Services, primarily serving the mid-market UK private sector n Phoenix Software, exclusively catering to the UK public sector Bytes maintains strategic partnerships with over 800 global technology vendors, including Microsoft, AWS, Adobe, VMware, and Check Point. Its strong relationship with Microsoft…

As economic and political dynamics shift in 2025, the South African (SA) rand could be in for a bumpy ride, but it might not be all downhill. Looking at the major market forces at play, here are five factors that will be decisive for the rand’s performance in the coming year: 1 SA’s fiscal discipline All eyes were on the Budget that was postponed to the 12th of March. While the date has changed, the focal points will not change, and we will still be looking towards the government, to present a financial plan or budget that is supportive of growth and addresses much-needed structural reforms we need to solve problems within the local economy. As always, we will also look towards the government wage bill, state-owned entity spending and…

Here are the facts about South Africa’s Budget: For the past 15 years or so, the government has consistently spent more than it has collected in taxes, creating what is becoming an unsustainable level of debt. There is no per capita growth (population is growing faster than gross domestic product (GDP). In the short term, taxes have to be raised. Anything else will take too long to make an immediate difference, although all the growth stuff should happen too. Let’s stop messing about and temporarily increase VAT to 17%. Serious. VAT is a very efficient tax collector and if the VAT exemptions are significant enough, which I think they are in the proposed budget that none of us have seen, then I don’t think the most vulnerable will be hit…