Cape Times 2021-08-18

siphelele dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE GOVERNMENT has proposed amendments to tax legislation that could have significant implications for pension fund members wishing to take their savings offshore. The National Treasury yesterday proposed changes that could allow the SA Revenue Service (Sars) to subject the interest in retirement funds to taxation when an individual ceases to become a South African tax resident. Currently, South Africa can forfeit its taxing rights when individuals become tax residents of another country before or when they retire. Briefing the Standing Committee on Finance, the Treasury said the rules had been changed last year and a 3-year moratorium had been implemented for persons who were no longer South African tax residents, before they could access their retirement funds savings. Treasury’s chief director for economic tax analysis Chris…

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za INSURANCE-BASED financial services group Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, in a trading statement for the 12 months to the end of June, expected its earnings to fall as much as 70 percent, knocked by 20 000 more Covid-19 mortality claims than expected. It now expected headline earnings per share to decline by between 50 and 70 percent to between 21 cents and 36c. The company is not alone, as other insurers have also paid the price of Covid-19. Liberty Holdings earlier this month said it had paid out a “staggering” 61 percent increase in death and dis- ability claims to R8.5 billion in the six months to June 30, which reflected the severe toll that the Covid-19 pandemic was taking on clients, said group…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE GOVERNMENT has announced a R340 million fund to support small and medium-sized businesses with funding, particularly in the manufacturing and green economy sectors. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) yesterday launched the Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP), in partnership with international financial services firm, JP Morgan. The deployment constitutes JP Morgan’s initial R300m through the fund and R40m through grants. The fund is expected to result in R2 billion worth of financing transactions, and create a minimum of 1 000 jobs over the eight-year period. Minister Ebrahim Patel of the dtic said JP Morgan was the first international bank to undertake an EEIP programme. He said the EEIP was part of the government’s broad-based black economic empowerment framework, which allowed multinational corporations that…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za MINING giant BHP strengthened on the JSE yesterday as the market applauded the proposed simplification of its corporate structure and the unbundling of its petroleum assets to Australia’s oil and gas company Woodside, creating one of the biggest energy producers in the world. BHP, which yesterday approved $5.7 billion (about R84.2bn) in capital expenditure for its potash project in Canada, was proposing to adopt a single company structure under BHP Limited, with a primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Chief executive Mike Henry said that under a unified corporate structure, BHP Ltd’s shares would be listed on the Australian and London stock exchanges and the JSE, with an American Depositary Receipt programme on the New York Stock Exchange. “Now is the time to simplify…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za HOMECHOICE International’s fintech operations grew strongly in the six months to June 30 after the pandemic accelerated digital use among customers and it now plans to broaden its financial services offerings. The group, which lifted diluted headline earnings per share 18.7 percent to 122.6 cents in the period and resumed dividends with a 47c per share payout, currently derives one in every two transactions from digital platforms, FinChoice chief executive Sean Wibberley said during a phone interview. HomeChoice, which sells products and financial services to more than 800 000 customers through omnichannel retail distribution channels, saw its share price rise sharply by 5.26 percent to R25 by midday. The FinTech business “carefully” grew loan disbursements by 99 percent to R1.6…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za GRINDROD’S operations are recovering from the effects of the pandemic, and a substantial improvement in headline earnings per share of between 108 and 96 percent is expected for the six months to June 30. The group said in a trading statement yesterday that interim headline earnings were expected to be between 2.1 cents and -0.9c a share, compared with -25c per share in the same period last year. Port and terminals, and logistics operations have benefited from a rise in cargo flows, high citrus and mining minerals exports, and by providing alternative solutions to the deep-sea shipping lines. Grindrod Bank remained conservative in lending and maintained strong capital and liquidity ratios. Overall, port and terminals re- ported earnings growth. Maputo Port volumes increased 7 percent to…