Pretoria News 2022-11-07

THE JSE’S All Share Index ramped up 4.9% on Friday after the market was led higher by commodity heavyweights and the price of Naspers and Prosus shares, which benefited from soaring tech stock prices in China. Naspers climbed 7.3% to R2 180, Sasol increased 9.3% to R308.92, while mining group Sibanye-Stillwater’s share price shot up 8.6% to R42.50. The JSE’s main indices are heavily weighted by some companies with big market capitalisations, and, for instance, of the JSE’s Top 40 Index that increased by a big 5.49% on Friday, Naspers makes up 8.29% of the index, global luxury goods group Richemont makes up 15%, resources group Anglo American 11.4% and Naspers’ European subsidiary Prosus 3.51%. Anglo’s share price notched up a substantial 11.45% to R608.47 on Friday, while Prosus’…

ECONOMISTS are pessimistic about the manufacturing and mining figures expected out on Thursday due to severe load shedding in September. Energy analysts have also questioned the repurposing of Eskom's Komati Power station for a solar and wind project funded by the World Bank of up to R9 billion. Eskom and the World Bank separately announced on Friday that the Komati power Station, which was effectively closed last week after reaching its end of life, would be re-purposed for solar, wind and battery storage capacity. This would also help retain the town’s economy by upskilling workers that are residents. The new Komati power station will include the provision of 150MW of solar, 70MW of wind and 150MW of storage batteries. The World Bank said the project would also create opportunities…

Questions about company’s ability to make payments of more than R345m TONGAAT Hulett creditors are expected to line up tomorrow in a meeting with the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) to chalk their demands from the company in quicksand over its continuity. Reports confirmed over the weekend by the South African Cane Growers’ Association (Sasa) were that some small-scale growers supplying the Tongaat Hulett mills at Felixton, Amatikulu and Maidstone had received the overdue payment for cane delivered in September 2022. Sasa said however, commercial growers have not yet been paid, leaving the majority of the imperilled 14 642 jobs at risk. “There also remain questions about Tongaat Hulett’s ability to make timeous payments of more than R345 million at the end of November, for the more than 570…

MTN GROUP delivered a solid operational and financial performance in the first nine months of this year, despite difficult macroeconomic, geopolitical and regulatory conditions, though cautioned that the outlook for the rest of the year remained challenging In its quarterly update for the period ended September 30, 2022, released on Friday, the mobile operator said group service revenue increased by 14.3%, led by data revenue, which rose by 33.2%, while fintech surged by 12.9%. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew by 24.7%. Total MTN Group subscribers grew by 6.8%, to 285 million. Group president and chief executive Ralph Mupita said: “The rise in energy, food prices and general inflation, as well as interest rates, continued to put pressure on consumers and our business. Weakening local currencies…

THE STAGGERING economic transformation of Asia from the poorest continent in the world in the 1960s to the centre of global commerce and industry today cannot be explained without examining the extraordinary role of its countries’ reserve banks. The interventionist approaches taken by certain reserve banks in pursuit of national interests (including growth, employment, output, industrialisation, and economic security) was so elaborately deliberate that recently it prompted the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) and numerous other institutions, to urge developing countries to abandon their misguided fixation with inflation targeting and (re)turn to developmental central banking, with job creation and growth as added objectives. Self-respecting central bankers, especially those in developing economies, influenced by national interests only, have recently taken it upon themselves…

IN THE PAST few years, certain auditing companies have drawn heavy criticism for not properly reporting on the fraudulent and unethical activities of certain companies. By the time the fraudulent activities were discovered, it was much too late. This, of course, begs the question: Can the current model of the traditional regulatory and statutory audit still make sense in the changing business environment? The audits currently performed by independent and external auditors – in line with relevant laws and regulations – compel the audited organisation to submit a complete set of reporting information. After following a risk-based audit process and carefully studying this information, according to legislative and auditing principles, the auditor produces an annual report in line with the legislated time lines and to meet stakeholder needs. However, the…