Cape Times 2022-01-26

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za CEMENTITIOUS product group PPC’s share price has plummeted more than 20 percent over a week after the group announced related party and institutional shareholder changes. The share price was down 2.15 percent to R4.56 yesterday afternoon, this after the share price fell steadily from R5.60 at last Wednesday’s close. The group, which has had to be significantly restructured in the past two years to reduce debt and recover into a financially healthier position, announced on Monday that the Public Investment Corporation had doubled its shareholding in PPC from 5.37 percent to 10.25 percent. Then yesterday, Value Capital Partners (VCP), the investment manager to VCP H4 QI Hedge Fund and various other funds, said it had disposed of a beneficial interest in PPC shares…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za BUSINESS activity in South Africa ticked up in November as the composite leading business cycle indicator climbed to a three-month high on further easing of lockdown restrictions. The SA Reserve Bank (SARB) yesterday said that the composite leading business cycle indicator increased by 0.6 percent in November 2021, accelerating from a 0.1 percent rise in October. This was the second consecutive month of positive reading and the most in three months as six of the 10 available component time series increased, while three fell and one remained unchanged. This followed a general downward movement since reaching a low-base-induced peak in May 2021 which was related to the onset of the Covid-19 third wave. Lockdown restrictions dropped from level 4 in July to level 2 by…

Dieketseng Maleke dieketseng.maleke@iol.co.za MINERAL Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe yesterday reiterated his support of nuclear as part of the green transition while urging South Africa to follow in the footsteps of Europe and see the energy as part of the green transition since it doesn’t emit carbon. Speaking at the North West provincial mining and energy investment conference, he said that while there was once a bad nuclear project in the country, nuclear was a required “technology of energy”. “Unfortunately in SA, when you talk of nuclear everybody runs for cover. We had a 9 600 megawatt nuclear project that proved to be a disaster. Nuclear is a required technology for energy,” he said. Mantashe was referring to South Africa’s disputed 9 600 MW, which…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za MOTUS was benefiting from the recovery of the new vehicle sales market and headline earnings per share were likely to increase by between 45and 55 percent to between 763 and 815 cents per share in the six months to December 31, 2021. The share price of South Africa’s biggest automotive group, with interests in the UK and Australia, traded 0.2 percent higher to R110.21 on the JSE yesterday morning – the price has steadily traded higher by 80 percent over a 12-month period. The group said in a trading update yesterday that operating profit was expected to be between R2.1 billion and R2.2bn, representing a 20 to 26 percent increase compared with the same six-month period a year before. The…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za REINET Investments’ compound asset value growth came to 8.8 percent in euro terms per annum by the end of the quarter to December 31, 2021, since March 2009 and including dividends paid, the company said yesterday. Net asset value (NAV) at the end of the quarter for the Luxembourg and JSE-listed investment firm increased by €375 million (R6.46 billion), or 7.8 percent, compared with at the end of September 30, 2021. The increase in NAV during the quarter reflected dividends from British American Tobacco (BAT), together with increases in the estimated fair value of other investments including BAT, other listed investments, Pension Insurance Corporation Group, Trilantic Capital Partners, TruArc Partners, Prescient China funds, Asia Partners and Diamond interests. Offsetting these increases were decreases…

Corrie Kruger THE SOUTH African banking sector is regulated by various entities – such as the SA Reserve Bank, the Financial Services Board, the National Credit Regulator, the JSE, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the SA Revenue Service, the National Treasury and the Department of Labour – which have enormous controls, paperwork en masse, and checks and balances designed to safeguard our money, which is administered by these banks. So, one wants to ensure that who one banks with, whether it be an individual or a company, has the right measures in place from the get-go. According to the Nedbank Financial Statements: “Nedbank Group does sound business according to key non-negotiables. These include sound governance practices, transparency, and accountability. “The board of directors discharges its responsibilities within a clearly defined governance…