Pretoria News 2022-06-21

FARMERS and mining companies should stock up early on fertiliser and explosives given the effects of the conflict in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, high commodity prices and demand, Omnia Holdings chief executive Seelan Gobalsamy said yesterday. Omnia’s operations in South Africa include the manufacture of ammonia nitrate for fertilisers and explosives, and the group has itself in the year to March 31 boosted inventories in the wake of the uncertain operating environment, so that it remained in a good position to supply customers, Gobalsamy said in an online interview. Russia and Ukraine were significant role-players in agricultural commodity markets in terms of grains (wheat and maize), oil seeds (soybean, canola and sunflowers) and key agricultural inputs such as nitrogen, phosphates and potassium, which had resulted in supply shortages and increased…

IMPALA Platinum (Implats) is caught between a rock and a hard place as its operations could be disrupted by a strike after the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) called on the mining firm to do the “right thing” and employ workers, who are working for three contractors as permanent staff. This follows the labour union yesterday announcing that the contract workers – employed by contract companies Newrak, Reagetswe Mining Group and Triple M Mining – at Implats’s Rustenburg operations would embark on an indefinite strike yesterday. Implats share price shed nearly 4 percent to close at R175 on the JSE yesterday, as the resource index rose 1.17 percent to 68 282 points. The union claims that the workers employed at the Implats mine…

Persistent power cuts at a time when economy is facing serious challenges THE RAND weakened to a one-month low yesterday as concerns grew over disruption to economic growth after Eskom announced the implementation of load shedding after three weeks of no rotational power cuts. Eskom yesterday announced the implementation of stage 2 load shedding until Thursday night due to the continued shortage of generation capacity. The struggling power utility, which last implemented load shedding on May 30, said it had 5 232MW on planned maintenance while another 14 202MW of capacity was unavailable due to breakdowns. Eskom’s persistent power cuts come at a time when the economy is facing serious challenges from rising inflation and a threat of a global recession which have left central banks with no…

STOR-AGE, the largest self-storage property fund on the JSE, continued its consistent earnings track record following a year of strong operating performance and execution on strategy in the year to March 31. A final dividend of 55.30 cents per share was declared after distributable income per share increased by 7.5 percent. The dividend for the year was up 5.49 percent to 111.90c per share. Eleven trading properties were acquired across South Africa and the UK and four new opportunities were secured, taking the total number of properties in the development pipeline to 14. The company, one of only 11 self- storage real estate investment trusts trading globally, had raised R575 million in an oversubscribed accelerated bookbuild in January. Following strong demand, same-store net property income…

NO GUARANTEES to truck drivers were on the table yesterday as government set up another task team to address issues relating to the sector, after a recent blockade of major arterial roads, which threatens South Africa’s export and import markets. The team would look at the registration of operators in term of Section 45 of the National Road Traffic Act, review of the Traffic Register Number and review of the Cross-Border Road Transport Legislation; amendment of the National Road Traffic Regulation and integrated joint multi-disciplinary law enforcement operations; the implementation of the Driver Training Programme; and consideration of the introduction of operating licences for the industry. But time is not on government’s side. Sifiso Nyathi, secretary of the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF ASA), said yesterday:…

BUSINESS paid tribute to David Brown, a well-known business leader, who was the chairperson of Northam Platinum and the lead independent non-executive director, who unexpectedly died on Sunday, saying he was a stalwart of the southern African mining industry. Vodacom said Brown’s leadership left an indelible mark on the Vodacom team and his generous advice and wise counsel would be sorely missed. Paul Dunne, Northam’s chief executive, said:“I am shocked and saddened at the sudden passing of David, a stalwart of the southern African mining industry. “He was not only chairperson of Northam’s board but a friend and colleague. He worked at board level in the sector for more than 23 years. “My fellow board members and executive team join me in extending our sincerest sympathy to his family and…