Cape Times 2022-12-05

SOUTH African consumers will have “The Grinch” stealing their Christmas this year as the price of petrol is set to increase again on Wednesday, taking the little left from household incomes following a rise in the cost of borrowing. According to recent studies, anxiety is on the rise among South African consumers as the high cost of living bites, driven by persistently rising interest rates imposed to curb runaway inflation. Data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) last week showed that the price of 93 and 95 octane petrol is expected to increase by 30 cents per litre and 41c litre, respectively, following a 51c per litre hike in November. However, diesel is set to fall by R1.48 per litre, offsetting the R1.44 per litre increase last month. This…

He is seen as an economical linchpin for South Africa’s previous investments THE ECONOMIC fallout caused by uncertainty around President Cyril Ramaphosa’s political future could shave off at least 1 percentage point in South Africa’s 2023 growth forecast due to the body blows on investor confidence. This is a view of at least one economist who has warned that the political economy around Phala-Phala farmgate was still likely, in one way or another, to spill over into next year. Investors are still digesting the news that Ramaphosa could be considering his resignation as the country’s president following a damning report that he may have violated his oath of office over his handling of a burglary in his Phala-Phala farm. North West University’s Business School economist Professor Raymond Parsons on…

A KEENLY-awaited listing – that of iconic South African food and consumer group producer Premier Groups – has been cancelled due to the volatile capital markets that were spooked about the uncertainty surrounding the future of President Cyril Ramaphosa. The share price of Premier’s parent company, the Luxembourg and JSE-listed investment group Brait, plunged 7.42% on Friday to close at R3.87 once the market had digested the news of the cancelled plans to list. On November 22 this year, Premier had published a pre-listing statement detailing a private placement of up to 65.03 million ordinary shares and the subsequent admission to listing Premier on the Main Board of the JSE on December 8, 2022. “Premier received a significant amount of investor interest and support for the business; however, the…

POWER outages of up to 19 hours a day, dark industrial parks and streets in the capital Harare as well as rising production costs – owing to additional costs running diesel generators – that are likely to drive inflation are the hallmarks of Zimbabwe’s newest electricity crisis. Worsened by limited production of electricity from the Kariba hydro-power plant as a result of plunging water levels, Zimbabwe is suffering acute power shortages. Imports from South Africa have been problematic as Eskom battles its own power supply crunch mainly as a result of frequent breakdowns to its generating units. “We cannot sustain to operate everyday using the generator. Human resources is having to reconfigure shifts so that some groups can work with extra capacity during the nights when we have a few…

TENSIONS seem to be escalating in the year-long takeover battle for Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) as Northam Platinum submitted a complaint to the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP). This was in response to RBPlat’s independent expert, finding that Impala Platinum's (Implats) offer to acquire all outstanding shares in RBPlat that it does not already own, was fair and reasonable. Implats owns just more than 41% stake in RBPlat in terms of cash and shares offer for the company worth R150 per RBPlat share. Last month, Northam announced an offer of R180 per RBPlat share in cash and shares for RBPlat. In its complaint, Northam was not happy with several administrative issues in RBPlat’s independent expert report and its subsequent circular about that report. RBPlat disputed the various complaints raised by Northam,…

SOUTH Africa's largest food producer Tiger Brands delivered robust annual results with earnings up 51%, despite tough trading conditions and significant input cost inflation. In its year-end results, the maker of Jungle Oats and Tastic rice, said on Friday its profit for the year to end September was R2.85 billion, an almost R1bn increase. Total revenue from continuing operations increased by 10% to R34bn, boosted by price inflation of 11% and a marginal overall volume decline of 1%. Earnings per share from continuing operations increased by 65% to 1 762 cents, while headline earnings per share from continuing operations increased by 51% to 1 702c (2021: 1 127c). It declared a full-year dividend to shareholders of 973c, an 18% increase over the previous year, and representing…