Cape Times 2022-10-25

DIS-CHEM Pharmacies’ forecast of a 43.1% to 45.4% increase in headline earnings per share for the six months to August 31, 2022, saw its share price ratchet up 5.82% to R33.46 at the close of the JSE yesterday. The pharmaceutical retailer courted controversy when chief executive Ivan Saltzman issued a memo to staff last month saying that the retailer, which has more than 20 000 employees, was falling behind on racial transformation targets at some level and would no longer be hiring whites, unless a special case was made to him or the head of human resources. Saltzman subsequently apologised for poor wording in the memo, but the group stood by its decision. The group said in a trading statement yesterday, that headline earnings per share (Heps) was expected…

GLOBAL grains and oilseeds prices are unlikely to return to the pre-Covid-19 and pre-war levels anytime soon due to current production levels, according to Agricultural Business Chamber chief economist Wandile Sihlobo. Overall, the 2022/23 global grain and oilseed season presented an encouraging picture of supplies. “Still, the price moves of the commodities will likely differ in the coming months because of the variations in the production levels compared with the 2021/22 season. “The current forecasts will probably be sufficient to provide relief from the levels the prices were at in the weeks after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war,” Sihlobo said. Agbiz said as the 2022/23 summer crop season began in the southern hemisphere, the grains and oilseeds production estimates released by the International Grains Council (IGC) and the US…

GOLD FIELDS, which operates gold mines across three continents, said yesterday that its board of directors had unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote in favour of the controversial Yamana transaction. This follows Gold Fields announcing a deal to acquire Yamana Gold in an all-share transaction that appraised the Canadian company at $6.7 billion (R121.2bn) on May 31. On Friday, Reuters reported that an independent evaluation estimated Yamana’s mineral asset value at between $6bn and $8bn, in line with Gold Fields’ initial all-share offer of $6.7bn. In the past, some shareholders expressed concern that Gold Fields’ proposed acquisition of Yamana was too expensive, too dilutive of Gold Fields shares and would negatively impact returns for existing shareholders. Under the deal, Gold Fields has offered 0.6 of one of its…

SOUTH32’s shares dipped by almost 5% on the JSE yesterday as it reported a mixed first quarter production update. The shares closed at R42.23 on the JSE yesterday and have decreased by 19.98% in the past six months. In its quarterly report to September, released yesterday, the diversified miner – which is listed on the JSE, ALX and London Stock Exchange – said aluminium production for the first quarter of the 2023 financial year rose by 9% quarter-on-quarter to 279 000 tons as its southern African smelters continued to test their maximum technical capacity and the Brazil Aluminium smelter was successfully restarted. South32 chief executive Graham Kerr said: “Highlights during the September 2022 quarter included an 11% increase in copper equivalent production at the Sierra Gorda copper mine in…

A TRAGIC accident more than six years ago during a school trip to a farm in the North West, during which three pupils died after they went canoeing, will cost the education MEC of that province dearly. The Mahikeng High Court ordered that the education authority had to pay the parents and guardians of the three children R375 000 in damages each. The department at the time paid each family R50 000 towards the funeral costs. Three learners drowned while on an official school excursion organised by the Rustenburg Technical High School in March 2016. At Farm Modderfontein, two of the pupils drowned when their canoe capsized, while the circumstances leading to the death of the third pupil remain shrouded in uncertainty. The court, however, said evidence indicated that the…

ACTIONSA unveiled former DA deputy mayor and speaker in the Knysna Municipality, Michelle Wasserman, as its provincial leader for the Western Cape yesterday. Wasserman is taking over the reins from Vytjie Mentor, who died two months ago. Wasserman said she was honoured to be appointed the provincial chairperson. “I am looking forward to growing ActionSA support and establishing wall-to-wall branches and structures in the Western Cape,” she said. Wasserman, who quit the DA in May last year, entered politics in 2011. She previously worked for the SA Human Right Commission and Black Sash and is a founder of the Legal Centre for Women and Children. Wasserman said she quit the DA because of toxic power struggles and infighting in the Knysna DA caucus that led to by-election after by-election. “In…