Pretoria News 2022-06-30

ARGENT Industrial’s share price ratcheted up 6.1 percent to R14.70 yesterday after it said profit increased 45 percent to R192.08 million in the year to March 31 after it expanded significantly offshore. Argent Industrial is a holding company that derives its income from manufacturing and trading of steel and steel-related products, automotive and properties. The company is organised into three operating divisions, namely manufacturing, steel and trading. The group also declared a 42 cents dividend – the last dividend, 10c, was in 2019. “The group exceeded its objectives for the 2022 financial year by investing in stable, developed international markets by further growing export markets, through efficiently sourcing commodities globally, rewarding entrepreneurial management and through the repurchase of its own share,” Argent’s management said yesterday. @smalltalkdaily…

CONSUMERS in South Africa are likely to continue hanging on to their disposable cash instead of spending on durable goods in the coming months on the back of rising interest rates and high fuel and food prices. FNB yesterday warned that consumer sentiment was signalling a marked slowdown in consumer spending in coming months. This as the FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) plunged deeper to -25 points in the second quarter of 2022 having already slipped from -9 to -13 index points during the first quarter. FNB said the current reading was the lowest in 35 years following the weakest point of -33 points in the second quarter of 2020 when the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and subsequent implementation of Level 5 lockdown pummelled sentiment. FNB said…

REBOSIS Property Fund’s R3.4 billion deal to sell a large portion of its office portfolio has fallen through. Ulricraft Proprietary, a special-purpose vehicle owned by Vunani Capital Partners, was not able to stump up the finance, a statement released by Rebosis said yesterday. Its share price remained static at 19 cents. Proceeds from the sale would have reduced Rebosis’ debt and effectively eliminated the existing threat to its going concern status. A condition precedent required Ulricraft to obtain finance for the transaction before it would be put to share holders for approval by way of a circular. The latest deadline to fulfil the condition precedent was on June 22, after having already been extended to allow the purchaser additional time to fulfil this obligation. Rebosis non-executive chairperson Kameel…

IN SPITE of Eskom reducing its rotational power cuts from Stage 6, small businesses in South Africa may struggle to survive this latest bout of power cuts as the economy already flounders. The struggling power utility yesterday said it would implement Stage 4 load shedding from 5am until midnight tonight as it continued to fail to return some generators to service. Eskom this week plunged the country into prolonged darkness, leaving businesses gasping for survival, due to multiple breakdowns at coal-fired power plants and also the unlawful and unprotected labour action. Thousands of Eskom workers have downed tools for more than a week at nine of its power stations and other operating facilities following a deadlock in wage negotiations on June 22. The workers are demanding wage increases of up…

IF THE GAMING and Betting Bill comes into fruition, Gold Circle would not survive, Gold Circle chief executive Michel Nairac said in an interview yesterday. “And if Gold Circle falls, what happens to the Durban July, the 16 000 people whose livelihoods are with us. Another province would benefit from that, but KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), which has already been hit hard by Covid-19, the July riots and floods, will be hit even more. That is our concern. The survival of Gold Circle is our concern, the provincial losses are a concern…” He said their plight was just one part of the danger. “The other danger will be in KZN province. When we signed our naming rights agreement with Hollywoodbets years ago, one of the things that was achieved was that…

SAFARI Investments’s core retail property assets “had performed well in the past year to March 31 and were dominant in their regions”, Safari chief executive Dirk Engelbrecht said yesterday. Safari, which Heriot real estate investment trust (Reit) this month offered to acquire, declared a final cash distribution of 32 cents per share for the year to end-March, bringing the payout for the year to 67c, which was 35.7 percent higher than the previous year. The distribution per share represented 100 percent of distributable income versus 91 percent in 2021. Heriot, which with two other parties already owns some 33.1 percent of Safari, has offered to acquire all Safari shares at R5.60 per Safari share. However, Safari’s share price was untraded at R5.70 yesterday, having risen…