Cape Times 2022-06-17

In an open letter to Ramaphosa, the Road Freight Association said more than R300 million had already been lost THE private sector has thrown the strongest challenge yet to government’s resolve to keep the economy running as the N3 to Durban’s ports and beyond was again under siege from truck drivers who blocked it at critical areas yesterday. They were pressing demands to stop the employment of foreigners on the roads and the recent fuel price increases. The Road Freight Association (RFA) and Business Unity South Africa (Busa) have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy the army and police to end the blockades. “We consider this continued disruption of economic activity a crisis and ask the president to intervene to ensure appropriate resources are mobilised to pre-empt these disruptions…

CELL C faces a critical meeting with former bond holders on Monday who will vote about accepting 20 cents in the rand over R7.3 billion of debt, and which will include a recapitalisation of the debt-stricken mobile phone group. Cell C’s liabilities far exceed its assets and it has defaulted on its debt with bondholders, with its credit rating cut to D (default) by S&P Global Ratings. The group, which has more than 16 million subscribers, has however devised a recapitalisation and operational turnaround strategy to avert bankruptcy, and an operating profit was reported for the last interim period versus a substantial loss the year before. Cell C also participated in the government’s recent spectrum auction, and is the only mobile operator to have not fully paid for the…

SOUTH African markets rebounded from eight-month lows on Wednesday before the US Federal Reserve delivered the biggest interest rate hike in 28 years in a bid to tame inflation. The JSE All-Share Index closed firmly and higher at 67 502 points on Wednesday, buoyed by commodity-linked and retail stocks, while tech stocks, financials and banks also advanced. Anglo American Platinum led the commodity-linked stocks with a 0.9 percent rise to R153.20 per share, followed by Impala Platinum at 6.1 percent to R180.20 per share. Fashion and food retailer Woolworths was up 4.6 percent to R54.63 per share while biggest grocery chain Shoprite rose 3.9 percent to R217.44 per share, tracking upbeat retail data for April. Markets were not much fazed as they had already priced in an aggressive interest rate…

V&A WATERFRONT, the well-known dockside retail and entertainment node in Cape Town, experienced a rapid rebound from January as international tourist arrivals increased, said Growpoint Properties, a 50 percent owner of the V&A. Growthpoint said in a nine-month update that the nine months had reflected two distinct periods for the V&A. Up to December 31, 2021, the V&A remained severely impacted by low international tourism due to pandemic restrictions, particularly the UK travel bans, and in December, due to the Omicron variant. From January 2022, however, the rapid rebound was boosted by international tourism to the extent that activity at V&A reached more than 70 percent of pre-Covid levels by the end of March. The V&A’s operating profit for the nine months improved 55 percent (R318…

AMID an accelerating industry-wide transformation, the world’s top 40 miners posted stellar financial results for 2021, on the back of high commodity prices and prudent cost management, according to the latest report. The information is contained in a PwC Mine 2022 report released on Wednesday. The analysis includes major companies from all parts of the world whose primary business is assessed to be mining. The report aims to examine the global trends in the mining industry and 40 top global mining companies were reviewed. According to the report, revenues rose by 32 percent and net profits soared by 127 percent. “Add these gains to their strong performance in 2020, and the top 40 face the future in excellent financial shape,” the report said. Market capitalisation was up 7…

Beleaguered Comair's formal application for liquidation this week has opened South African skies for the taking as an increasing number of routes open on a continental and trans-Atlantic level. Domestic air travellers should be prepared to pay three to four times more for their flight tickets. This as airline capacity has reportedly dropped 40 percent since Comair’s business rescue practitioners announced plans to liquidate the airline. Air Côte d’Ivoire announced this week that the Johannesburg-Abidjan via Kinshasa route would launch on June 29 and be the fastest route between South Africa and Ivory Coast offered by any airline in Africa. The airline will be introducing four flights a week between Johannesburg and Abidjan. Air Côte d’Ivoire CEO Laurent Loukou believes the new route between Abidjan and Johannesburg will be…