Cape Times 2022-03-17

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za GLOBAL oil prices rose for the first time this week yesterday after entering bear market territory, although volatility could continue if Russia and Ukraine peace talks collapse. The price of Brent crude oil traded just above the $100 mark (R1 511) a barrel yesterday after falling 6.5 percent as investors cast doubt on the impact of growing pandemic restrictions in China on crude oil demand. Brent crude prices are down more than 25 percent from their March 7 intra- day high of $139 a barrel, reflecting easing fears of further supply disruptions based on cease-fire talks between Russia and Ukraine. Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst for Markets.com, said one of the reasons why oil had reversed quite so sharply was that the market was…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za RAND MERCHANT Investment Holdings (RMI) declared an ordinary and special dividend increase of more than 100 percent to 165.5 cents per share in the six months to December 31 as shareholders continue to benefit from ongoing steps to unlock value. And in a further development yesterday, RMI said it would list short-term insurer OUTsurance. This would give RMI a simpler structure, provide a more focused OUTsurance management team, a higher dividend payout ratio, reduce personnel and holding company costs by R25 million to R30m over the next six months, and enable a special dividend of R2.18 billion to be declared. RMI’s share price surged 6.07 percent to R48.20 yesterday. RMI chief executive Herman Bosman said: “In a way we are pleased…

Dieketseng Maleke dieketseng.maleke@inl.co.za STANDARD Bank Group has committed to cease funding any new construction of coal-fired power plants as it targets net-zero carbon emission by 2050 and mobilises up to R300 billion in sustainable finance. The banking group, which is a top oil and gas lender in Africa, announced its commitment target yesterday as it published its climate policy. The policy outlines Standard Bank's short-, medium-, and long-term targets to reduce its contribution to carbon emissions and accelerate its sustainable finance commitments with a focus on renewable energy projects across Africa. Standard Bank said it wanted to mobilise up to R300bn in sustainable finance, potentially including for transition fuels like gas, by the end of 2026 from a targeted R40bn in 2022. Another commitment the bank made was that…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za GROWTHPOINT Properties, the largest primary JSE-listed real estate investment trust (Reit), lifted its dividend 5.1 percent to 61.5 cents a share in the six months to December 31 as it continued to reinforce liquidity, strengthen its balance sheet, optimise its local portfolio and seek new revenue streams. Distributable income increased 17.6 percent in SA Rreit funds from operations, and distributable income per share of 76.9c was up 5.2 percent. Total property assets grew 7.7 percent to R164.4 billion. Chief executive Norbert Sasse said the solid performance was due to increased contributions from the V&A Waterfront, Growthpoint Properties Australia (GOZ) and improved South African finance costs due mainly to the November 2020 equity raise. “These pleasing half-year results show the…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za 3SIXTY Life was liquid, had met all liabilities and claims payments, and was awaiting the outcome of a court hearing following the release of a curatorship report that would outline the insurer’s recapitalisation. This was according to acting chief executive Khandani Msibi, who joined the insurance company that is owned by the National Union of Metalworkers in March last year. He said in a telephone interview yesterday they had put up R180 million in property, R130m of which was unencumbered, for the recapitalisation of 3Sixty. He said the company had been hard hit by claims through the Covid-19 pandemic’s second and third waves in particular and had late last year breached its solvency and minimum capital requirements. “At this stage we only had two options, liquidate…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE 10 PERCENT fine that Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) faces in South Africa should act as a deterrent to big tech from acting in a way that stifles start-ups, innovation and competition, GovChat founder and chief executive Eldrid Jordaan said yesterday. He was responding after the Competition Commission announced this week that it had referred Meta Platforms and its subsidiaries, WhatsApp Inc and Facebook South Africa (collectively referred to as Facebook), for abuse of dominance to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution. The commission had recommended a fine of 10 percent of local turnover. Jordaan said the case was groundbreaking, as it was one of the few abuse of dominance cases ever to be prosecuted by the South African Competition Commission, and the first of its…