Cape Times 2021-09-08

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE ECONOMY’S fourth consecutive quarter of growth may be positive, but uncertainty still abounds about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and disruptive violence and looting in July, economists said yesterday. GDP figures released by Statistician-General Rhulani Maluleke yesterday indicated the economy recorded its fourth consecutive quarter of growth, expanding by 1.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, discounting the July disruptions, which marked a major milestone since the onset of the pandemic at level 3 of the Covid-19 pandemic. Economists said despite the gains made over the last four quarters, the economy is 1.4 percent smaller than what it was before the Covid-19 pandemic, implying that the impact of the wave of severe business disruption, protest action and violence in KwaZulu-Natal and…

Aishah Cassiem aishah.cassiem@inl.co.za RECENTLY awarded bidder e-Movement may have not submitted documentation or proposals on the Cape Town Formula E track to the City of Cape Town, before being awarded the bid for the City’s first Grand Prix event. This, after claims that the City was using the intellectual property of the sidelined Cape Town Grand Prix South Africa (CTGPSA), who were in the running for the same bid for 22 years. E-Movement asked Independent Media’s Special Investigations Unit to hold back with a story on the Grand Prix bidding dispute, and to give them a few weeks to reveal their complete track intellectual property. “May I suggest that you wait a few weeks for the unveiling of the route,” reads the emailed communique sent to Independent Media’s investigations unit.…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za SHOPRITE Holdings created 3 897 new jobs during the 53 weeks ended July 2021 and generated R133.9 billion in sales from its South African supermarkets, up 9.3 percent from a year earlier, notwithstanding the alcohol ban imposed as part of the government’s Covid-19 lockdown regulations, the group said yesterday. Shoprite, which operates Shoprite, Usave, Checkers and Checkers Hyper outlets, rewarded shareholders with a final 353 cents a share dividend, bringing the full year dividend to 544c a share, up 42 percent, from the previous year’s full dividend of 383c a share. “Despite being South Africa’s largest private sector employer, we still aspire to create employment as it is critical to improve the lives of our fellow citizens. On that front, we added…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE COVID-19 third wave has not affected major vegetable produce prices, but there has been high price inflation for certain food commodities over the past year, the Competition Commission said in its latest essential food pricing monitoring report yesterday. The commission said an example of one such commodity was cooking oil. A clear retail price spike in cooking oil price in the first wave had continued to creep upward – both in wholesale and retail cooking oil prices – since May/June last year. The commission said, however, that there had been oil-producing crop shortages internationally, including sunflower, palm, soya and canola oil, which could be attributed to the increases seen in the local market prices for cooking oil. Reasons cited for the recent surge in global prices…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za IMPERIAL Logistics, which is being acquired by Dubai-based DP World, lifted headline earnings a share 218 percent to 334 cents in the year to June 30 even though the pandemic cost it R2.6 billion in revenue. “While the impact of Covid-19 on operations was not as severe as in the 2020 financial year, management estimates that Covid-19 negatively impacted revenue and operating profit by R2.6bn and R346 million respectively in 2021,” the group said yesterday. The DP World transaction, with Imperial being acquired at R66 a share, was expected to be concluded by February next year, pending the successful outcome of outstanding approvals, Imperial’s management said yesterday. Imperial, an Africa-focused provider of integrated market access and logistics solutions to the healthcare, consumer, automotive,…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE INDEPENDENT Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has decided to consent to an order setting aside its decision to publish the Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in order to avoid long drawn-out litigation, it said yesterday. The authority said a drawn-out court case would further delay the licensing of high-demand spectrum. The authority conceded that it had not been able to reach an out-of-court settlement with the litigants in terms of which its decisions to invite applications for high-demand spectrum licences and for a licence to operate a Wireless Open Access Network (Woan) were challenged. “Icasa, over the past four months, has engaged extensively and intensively with the active litigants with the intention to reach a settlement agreement so that the licensing process can proceed without further…