Star 2026-01-08

OUTsurance Limited has been approved for a secondary listing on A2X Markets. OUTsurance shares will be available for trade on A2X from January 14, 2026. OUTsurance is a South African insurance provider that offers value-for-money short-term insurance products for your car, buildings, household contents, and items that you take and use outside the home. Kevin Brady, the CEO of A2X said: "For the past 28 years, OUTsurance has delivered innovative, value-for-money products to its clients, and we are pleased to help extend this approach to their shareholders. By listing on A2X, OUTsurance will provide its investors with the benefit of choice to transact its shares on an additional venue with reduced transaction fees and extra liquidity." OUTsurance joins 167 other securities listed on A2X, representing a combined market capitalisation…

The Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) has ruled that Novus Holdings must increase its takeover offer for ICT product group Mustek by 15.4% to R15.41 per share, from the R13 per share initial offer value. The TRP's investigation arose from complaints lodged to it by Albie Cilliers, who is well known for his advocacy of shareholder rights in South Africa, in June 2025. Cilliers had raised red flags about potential undisclosed concert party relationships in the Novus mandatory offer. Novus said in a JSE news service statement it "fundamentally disagrees" with the conclusions reached by the TRP and will consider its rights and/or remedies. Novus intends applying to the TRP to set aside the (ruling) and is taking the requisite advice in this respect. The TRP ruling found that Novus breached…

Agricultural associations have welcomed decisive action by the Limpopo provincial government to curb the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), but have cautioned that stricter movement controls could place added pressure on farmers if not efficiently implemented. Earlier this week, Limpopo’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development introduced new requirements for pre-approved permits and risk-based assessments for the movement of cloven-hoofed animals into, within and out of the province. The measures apply to cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and game, and take effect immediately until further notice. The department said the regulations are grounded in the Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act No. 35 of 1984), under which FMD is declared a controlled animal disease. The Act empowers veterinary authorities to prescribe control measures to prevent the spread of animal diseases…

Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) said Wednesday it had agreed to sell its 65% shareholding in the Whale Coast Village shopping mall in Hermanus, Western Cape, for R600 million. HCI's 80%-held subsidiary HCI-Whale Coast Village (HCI-WCV) had entered into a sale agreement to dispose of its 65% undivided share in the "Whale Coast Village Mall" rental enterprise. Whale Coast Capital Investments Proprietary acquired a 40% stake and Whale Coast Village Mall Proprietary acquired the remaining 25% of the share in the mall. HCI said the funds would be used to settle taxes and the debt funding owing by HCI-WCV to its debt funders, which was currently about R328m. The remainder of the purchase consideration was intended to be distributed by HCI-WCV to its shareholders, including HCI as to 80% thereof. The…

According to the Naamsa aggregate new vehicles sales rose to 597 000 units in 2025 South Africa’s new vehicle market delivered a landmark recovery in 2025, with total sales climbing above 2019 pre-pandemic levels for the first time and reaching multi-year highs. According to data released by the Automotive Business Council (Naamsa) on Wednesday, aggregate new vehicle sales rose to 596 818 units in 2025, reflecting a strong 15.7% increase compared with 2024 and marking the best annual performance in more than a decade. This was after new vehicle market registered a 19.2% rebound for the month of December, with aggregate industry new vehicle sales reaching 48 983 units, an increase of 7 882 vehicles compared to the 41 101 units recorded in December 2024. Naamsa said the rebound was…

The European Union is taking a “very serious” look at Elon Musk’s Grok after the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot generated sexualised images of people including minors on the social media platform X. “We are aware of the fact that X or Grok is now offering a ‘Spicy Mode’ showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with childlike images,” commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said at a press conference, referring to a setting that Grok debuted last year to generate suggestive material. “This is not spicy. This is illegal.” Users of X have been prompting Grok to digitally remove clothing from photos - often of women - so the subjects appeared to be wearing only underwear or bikinis. The proliferation of these images on a popular social media platform has alarmed regulators…