Pretoria News 2022-05-23

MORE than 2 500 of the world’s leaders from politics, business, civil society, academia, media and the arts meet in the Swiss mountain village of Davos today, as the World Economic Forum (WEF) hosts its first in-person annual meeting for more than two years. In a world facing lower growth, rising inflation and interest rates, massive supply chain disruptions, a continuing impact of Covid-19, climate changes and unprecedented geopolitical risks such as a protracted war in Ukraine, the meeting this year aptly is themed “History at a Turning Point: Government Policies and Business Strategies”. The meeting, which ends on Thursday, will see the leaders attempt to find solutions to the world's most urgent challenges. Delegates include more than 50 heads of state. “It happens at the most consequential…

RICHEMONT’S share price plunged 11.87 percent on the JSE on Friday morning even after it reported strong financial results year to March 31 that saw it declare a special on top of the annual payout. Directors of the group, which owns luxury brands such as Cartier, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, Dunhill and Montblanc, on Friday recommended a dividend of (Swiss francs) SFr2.25 (R37.66) per “A” share, and a special dividend of SFr1 per “A” share. Reuters reported the share price slumped because the company had struck a cautious note over growth in China, and after its full-year profit had disappointed. There was also no meaningful progress in long-running talks about its Luxury New Retail. Chairperson Johann Rupert said in the results they looked forward to concluding matters with…

S&P GLOBAL Ratings agency has pointed to a resilient external sector as it revised South Africa’s credit rating outlook to posi- tive from stable, exactly two years after downgrading the country’s bonds to junk. S&P on Friday also affirmed South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency debt ratings at “BB-” and “BB”. According to S&P, recent favourable terms of trade in South Africa had im- proved the external and fiscal trajectory. However, it warned that the gains were partly offset by ongoing supply-side constraints to export volumes which have seen inflation tracking toward the upper limit of the 3 to 6 percent target range. S&P primary credit analyst Zahabia Gupta said the country's reasonably large net external asset position, flexible currency and deep domestic capital markets, provided strong buffers against…

ESKOM has decided to rope in veteran engineers to mentor and upskill its power station managers in a bid to avert prevalent unplanned breakdowns at its ageing coal-fired power stations. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced this intervention on Friday during the presentation of his Budget Vote for the 2022/23 financial year in Parliament. This comes on the heels of the sudden resignation of group executive for generation Phillip Dukashe early this month after a year in the job and 26 years at Eskom, citing personal reasons. Gordhan said it was no secret that Eskom did not have the necessary human capital for the maintenance of its current fleet of power stations. The minister said Eskom was taking urgent steps to improve the performance of generation, including oversight meetings to…

Harare SHARES in The Foschini Group (TFG) leapt 2.5 percent on the JSE on Friday after the company beat load shedding and depressed consumer spending power to report stronger sales volumes for the quarter to end March. This stronger performance is now expected to yield a big jump in earnings for the full year period, TFG said on Friday. Unlike South African grocery- focused retailers, which have recently been reporting subdued sales, volumes in Foschini have been stronger. Pick n Pay is moving to establish and strengthen its apparel division, while Massmart on Thursday reported weaker sales, except for its Makro division, which lifted income. JSE investors in TFG on Friday cheered its stronger turnover in its Australia, London and Africa segments. The company’s share price, which…

AYO TECHNOLOGY Solutions widened its headline loss 43 percent to 35.90 cents per share in the six months to February 2022 after revenue fell as two of its companies no longer consolidated their full results and the group was impacted by a weak economy and continued negative publicity. Revenue decreased by 8 percent to R792 million. The pre-tax loss increased by 29 percent to R85m. AYO has interests in disruptive technologies that advance life, business, and economics. Its investment portfolio touches all aspects of technology, from connectivity and communications to software development and cloud-based services. On November 1, 2021, AYO disposed of Puleng Technologies and lost control of Global Command and Control Technologies (GCCT). These had contributed revenues of R128m and R72m respectively in the…