Cape Times 2021-05-26

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za US PRIVATE and equity investment firm Sassoon Group has approved $50 billion (R692.5bn) for possible investment in South Africa over five years, chairperson David Sassoon told Business Report yesterday. J Sassoon Group, which is more than 500 years old and is the world’s oldest independent family-owned investment firm, planned to launch a Joburg office before the end of the year, said Sassoon. Sassoon said the group’s first investment in the country was $20 million in finance to a South African 100 percent black-owned energy start-up, Bluedrop Energy, for the construction of a state-of-the-art LPG cylinder manufacturing plant. The $20m was the first investment that formed part of $100m private equity funding that was available to invest in emerging, entrepreneurial and innovative businesses in South Africa.…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za INFORMATION and communications technology group AYO Technology Solutions (AYO), which posted moderate results for the six-months to February 2021 amid the subdued Covid-19 restricted economy, expected a “far improved” second half, chief executive Howard Plaatjes said yesterday. Not beating around the bush, he said: “One can’t really expect great results from any business in this environment. The pandemic has contracted revenues across all industries, which leads to a reduction in customers’ spend on IT infrastructure and services, and has a knock-on effect on our group performance.” - Read the full report: https://www.iol.co.za/business-report He said low interest rates had also put pressure on investment income. While the group had “taken a knock in some divisions,” there had been good demand in other divisions, as well as strong…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za CORONATION Fund Managers’ headline earnings a share increased by 43.5 percent to 255.8 cents after it benefited from fast-rising markets since March last year and a strong outperformance of its client mandates, chief executive Anton Pillay said yesterday. Pillay said the unprecedented stimulus that was pumped into economies by central banks globally had buoyed capital markets, resulting in record-breaking short-term returns. As at March 31, 2021 most major indices were up well over 50 percent from their March 2020 lows. “Market reaction to Covid-19 presented rarely-seen opportunities for active investors like us, which, in turn, we converted into strong returns for our client portfolios, which positively impacted our revenue,” he said. However, Coronation’s management viewed this as a cyclical high for investment returns and…

GRINDROD Shipping Holdings, the JSE listed logistics group said yesterday that it had completed sales of the 2013-built medium-range tankers Leopard Moon and Leopard Sun. In conjunction with the sales, appro-ximately $24.7 million (R344.4m) debt remaining on the credit facility with NIBC Bank NV was repaid in full. The sales generated $17.9m in net proceeds after debt repayment with a further $2.7m release of restricted cash associated with the loan. Last month’s sale of the 2009-built small tanker Breede, which constituted part of the security package for the group’s $100m senior secured credit facility and was released from the security package in connection with the closing of the transaction. The group said that some $3.8m debt was repaid on the facility and the sale generated net proceeds to the company…

We’ve heard about gut microbiome and how it can have an impact on our weight, mood, and everything in between. With a lot of studies confirming the connection of the gut with the heart, brain and liver, very little is spoken about its association with the oral microbiome. The mouth-gut axis demands equal significance for healthy enamel and overall health. The oral microbiome sets the stage. Hence, a healthy mouth and oral microbiome will lead to a restored gut, immune system and entire body. Your mouth is the caretaker of your gut. Every time you swallow food, you are absorbing thousands of good and bad bacteria. The aim is not to destroy all the micro-organisms in your mouth. In fact, just like the gut microbiome, there are good bacteria in…

Kristen Chase TikTok as an educational tool? Somehow it’s working for my 13-year-old. “Mom, how do you spell ‘suspicious’?” my 13-year-old daughter asked me recently, not even looking up from her phone. Other than for meals, she had hardly made her presence known, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to give her a hard time, before spelling it out. “How about I use it in a sentence? ‘It’s pretty suspicious that you’ve been on TikTok an awful lot lately’.” I was waiting for the predictable eye-roll, and to hear about how her older sister, an animé cosplayer with a following of almost 100 000, was always on it, too. Instead I got a reply that I was not expecting. Apparently, after becoming engulfed in the Harry Potter…