Cape Times 2021-09-17

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za FIRSTRAND, the group comprising FNB, RMB, WesBank and UK-based Aldermore, said normalised earnings recovered faster than expected in the year to June 30, enabling it to pay out an 80 percent higher full year dividend of 263 cents a share. A final dividend of 153c was declared for the second half, compared with zero in the second half of 2020. Normalised earnings increased 54 percent to R26.6 billion, the results showed yesterday. The growth was in line with other big banks – Absa Group grew headline earnings five-fold to R8.6bn, Standard Bank’s headline earnings were up 52 percent to R11.5bn, while Nedbank grew headline earnings 148 percent to R5.3bn in the six-month period to June 30. It should be borne…

Joint venture in Nevada project in line with group’s ambitions to diversify into green metals Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za PRECIOUS Metal producer Sibanye Stillwater yesterday announced its third investment into battery metals through a $490 million (R7.03 billion) 50-50 joint venture of a lithium project in Nevada, the US, in line with ambitions to diversify into green metals. Sibanye yesterday announced the deal with Australian-listed Ioneer for the development of the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project. Rhyolite Ridge is a large, shallow lithium-boron deposit expected to be one of the first large-scale US lithium projects to enter production, currently anticipated in the second half of 2024. Sibanye, which operates several platinum and gold mines, also committed to purchasing 7.1 percent of Ioneer’s ordinary shares for about $70…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa’s bid to boost its electricity supply in the short-term through renewable energy could face further blackouts as legal challenges mount over the country’s 2 000MW Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP). The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) said yesterday that it was considering opposing the legal challenge brought against it by a renewable energy producer over local content exemptions in the programme. Suntech Solar Power South Africa earlier this month went to court to challenge the dtic’s decision to retrospectively grant exemptions to rival bidders for designated local content requirements. The RMIPPPP provides detailed local content requirements for 14 components plus subcomponents that might be used in the power projects such as electric cables and steel products. The Solar PV…

TRUCO is a fifth-generation family-run business. Established in 1892, it is one of the largest suppliers of engineered industrial rubber products on the continent. Over the years the company has diversified its product range from an initial focus on rubber elbow and knee guards for miners in the early days of the gold rush to raincoats (including being General Smuts’ preferred brand during World War II) to ultimately include abrasion-resistant slurry and water hoses, PVC hoses and hose fittings, rubber mouldings and extrusions, rubber sheeting and lining material, ship and harbour wall fenders and a wide range of adhesives for bonding industrial rubber products. Truco has also become a well-respected supplier to the conveyor belt market and offers a range of textile and steel cord conveyor belting solutions…

Given Majola given.majola@inl.co.za SOUTH Africans used less short-term credit during Covid-19 disruption between the first quarter last year and the first quarter this year, resulting in an estimated economy-wide decline in sales of R790 million with 1 400 fewer jobs supported and R96m less in taxes collected, according to the results of the first AFSCI (Altron Fintech Short-term Credit Impact) Index released yesterday. The extension of short-term credit, a key financial instrument for low-income households and micro-businesses, contracted by 12.3 percent during the reported period. Altron Fintech developed the AFSCI in partnership with Keith Lockwood, an independent economic consultant and adjunct faculty member of the Gordon Institute of Business Science. Lockwood attributed the decline in the number of creditworthy credit applicants to the 1.4 million drop…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za GEMFIELDS, the supplier of coloured gemstones shot up by 13 percent on the JSE after it flagged a return to profit- ability during the half-year ended June 2021. Gemfields, which is focused on mining emeralds at the Kagem mine in Zambia and the Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) in Mozambique, expects a $23.8 million (R364m) net profit after tax for the six months ended June compared to a $56.7m net loss after tax. The group said its key operations, MRM and Kagem, generated revenues of $58.9m and $31.2m, respectively, during the six-month period to June, up from zero in MRM and $15m in Kagem. “Gemfields’ 2020 auction schedule was severely hampered by the many travel, quarantine and congregating restrictions put in place internationally to mitigate the…