Cape Times 2023-03-29

JOHANNESBURG has the most millionaires in Africa, with 14 600, according to the latest 2023 Africa Wealth report published by Henley & Partners, in partnership with New World Wealth. This as Africa’s millionaire population is expected to rise 42% over the next 10 years. The report showed that Africa’s “Big 5” wealth markets are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco, which together account for 56% of the continent’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and more than 90% of its billionaires. There are some 138 000 HNWIs with investable wealth of $1 million (R18.26m) or more living in Africa, along with 328 centi-millionaires worth $100m or more, and 23 US dollar billionaires. Despite a tough past decade economically, South Africa is still home to more than twice as…

THE Big South African poultry producers could be involved in uncompetitive behaviour through vertical integration, with smaller players suffering a margin squeeze from unfair price increases in chicken feed costs. The South African Competition Commission – which released a report detailing worrying price increases across bread, cooking oil and poultry products yesterday – is now closely monitoring the poultry sector to protect consumers from unfair price increases. “There appears to be evidence of margins in the poultry industry being under pressure, which may affect the long-term sustainability of small and emerging chicken producers,” the Competition Commission said in its report. South Africa has an annual per capita chicken consumption of 38 kilograms. In contrast, other meat products such as beef have lower per capita consumption of around 17kg per…

Bavarian luxury car manufacturer celebrates 50 years in SA with 300 000th BMW X3 BMW Group South Africa has lauded the country’s “very stable” industrial policy which has kept it invested for 50 years, in spite of challenging economic conditions brought by the energy crisis, infrastructure and logistics woes. This is a significant vote of confidence in the country’s investment drive on the back of negative reaction by a number of private sector players over South Africa’s over policy uncertainty and slow progress to implement structural reforms. The Bavarian car manufacturer yesterday celebrated its 50th anniversary in South Africa with the 300 000th BMW X3 rolling off assembly line at its Plant Rosslyn, outside Pretoria. Established in March 1973, Plant Rosslyn was the first BMW production site outside of…

THE FAO GLOBAL Food Price Index, which measures the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 129.8 points in February, down 0.6% from January and continuing its downward trend for an 11th consecutive month. With the latest decline, the index has fallen 18.7% from its peak in March last year. The marginal decline of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Global Food Price Index in February reflected significant drops in the price indices of vegetable oils and dairy, together with fractionally lower cereals and meat indices, more than offsetting a steep rise in the sugar price index. In an encouraging development for global food inflation, the initiative on the safe transportation of grain and foodstuffs from Ukrainian ports, called the Black Sea…

MASTER Drilling expects to perform well in the new financial year due to its long-term contracts, diversified footprint, proactive capital management and service orientation, CEO Danie Pretorius said at the release of their annual results yesterday. “Master Drilling … had a stellar year in 2022. Revenue is up 32% to $226.4 million (R4.14 billion) and cash generated was $25m. This is on the back of higher utilisation and investment in new business ventures,” he said in a statement. The group delivers drilling techno- logies and mining solutions through partner relationships with blue-chip and mid-tier clients in the mining, hydro-electric energy, civil, engineering, as well as construction sectors worldwide. Its share price closed 4.21% higher at R14.59 on the JSE yesterday, after rising steadily from R6.70 three…

EMBATTLED Murray & Roberts (M&R) shareholders saw some reprieve yesterday after the share price gained 19.19% to close at R1.18 on the JSE after the group announced an agreement to regain control of a key Australian subsidiary that went into administration. M&R, which posted an attributable loss of R2.5 billion for the six months to December 31 compared with R55 million profit a year before, had also on Monday announced plans to sell its 65% shareholding in Insig Technologies to the AvidSys Group (Avid). Insig is an Australian mining technology company, focused on developing mine automation services, providing sensor, software, and autonomous solutions. On December 5, 2022, M&R volun- tarily put its holding company in Australia, Murray & Roberts Pty Ltd (MRPL), into administration, as well as the…