Pretoria News 2022-09-29

SOUTH Africa cannot count on future economic growth to solve the country’s unskilled and semi-skilled unemployment problem as it predicts the unemployment rate could reach 40% by 2030, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) South Africa’s Africa Economic Outlook report for 2022, released yesterday. This downside economic scenario by PwC is alarming given that, in South Africa, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. South Africa’s unemployment rate was at 33.9% in quarter two of 2022. PwC notes: “This exclusion of millions of adults from partaking in the country’s economic life is contributing to the decline in social cohesion. This, in turn, is causing an increase in societal breakdown and stability risks associated with protests and unrest.” South Africa’s…

ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats) employees are in the money seat after the mining firm yesterday announced a R1.8 billion new employee share ownership plan (Esop), which will see each qualifying employee receiving shares in the firm worth R8 000 a year. The plan will be implemented during the fourth quarter of this year. This is Amplats’s third Esop and will replace the second Esop, which expires this month when the final 2020 allocation vests. The mining firm, with a market capitalisation of R312bn, will also see employees participating in the evergreen ownership of 2% of Rustenburg Platinum Mines (RPM), the operating subsidiary of Amplats. The purchase of these shares would be fully funded by the company, and qualifying employees would be entitled to receive dividends as and when…

LOCAL tourism industry is truly on a path to recovery as income from tourist accommodation continues to increase though it was still falling short of reaching its pre-Covid numbers. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that the total income for the tourist accommodation industry increased by 191.6% in July compared with the same month last year. StatsSA said that income derived from the tourist accommodation sector rose sharply year-on-year on base effects, intensified by the riots and unrest that took place during July 2021. Tourism activity was severely impacted by last July’s political unrest that took place in KwaZulu-Natal, one of South Africa’s popular tourist destinations, which saw shopping malls, industrial parks and other business places vandalised and set alight. This was coupled with the tighter lockdown restrictions…

JSE All Share Index falls to its lowest since 2021 over perceived uncertainty LOCAL stocks plunged to the lowest in more than one year yesterday as another wave of volatility fuelled a risk sell-off sentiment in the markets on the back of a looming recession in Europe. This as the Bank of England was forced to step in with a £60 billion (R1.16 trillion) buy-up of UK government debt to prevent “material risk” to UK financial stability and stop a potential mass collapse of pension funds. The JSE All Share Index fell by more than 2% during early trade yesterday to 62 294 index points, its lowest since January 2021, and down from a previous close of 64 025 points on Tuesday. It later closed at…

TRUWORTHS International is beefing up its management team at a time the team at the South African fashion retailer needs to spice up its growth trajectory. It said yesterday that it had appointed Sarah Proudfoot and Emanuel (Mannie) Cristaudo as the group’s joint deputy chief executives with effect from October 1. The share price slid 1.09% to R52.65 at the close of the JSE yesterday. The share is down 30.09% over three years. In September 2020, shareholders were advised that Michael Mark planned to retire at the November 2022 AGM. A group-wide senior executive succession plan was implemented to ensure a smooth transition in a number of senior management positions, including that of chief executive. Shareholders were also advised that after the successful implementation of the succession plan, it was…

ASCENDIS Health, the drugs maker forced to restructure due to a debt crisis and shareholder revolt, managed to improve its operating loss of continuing operations by 32% to -R317 million in the year to June 30. “We are extremely excited about the new financial year after the many changes and shifts over the past 12 months,” chairperson Harry Smit said in a telephone interview. He said much of the impact of the changes would only be reflected in the new financial year’s results, and that the businesses that the group has been left with “have good bases that we can build on”, he said. The taxed loss from continuing operations of R758m was much improved on the prior year’s R1.66 billion taxed loss, its results showed yesterday. The…