Star 2022-08-10

Imposition of duties by the US government has had negative impact on jobs SOUTH Africa has used the visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to once again push the US government to lift punitive Trump-era tariffs against South African metal imports to that country. In 2018, then President Donald Trump’s administration imposed additional tariffs on global steel and aluminium imports, at 25 and 10 percent ad valorem, respectively. The tariffs were imposed for national security reasons, based on the findings of an investigation in terms of Section 232 of the US 1962 Trade Expansion Act. Certain countries were granted temporary exemption from the tariffs, including Canada and Mexico, but no exclusion was granted to South Africa, despite extensive lobbying by the government. The imposition of the duties…

VOLATILITY in the oil market continued to prevail on Monday as prices eased to pre-war levels during early trade over concerns of a global recession and weak demand, before slightly climbing back later in the day. The price of Brent crude oil traded around the $94-per-barrel mark on Monday amid a weakening demand outlook, dipping further below the highest levels of $134 (R2 234) per barrel reached at the height of the Russia/Ukraine war. Economic data released over the weekend showed that China, the world’s top crude importer, imported 9.5 percent less oil in July than a year ago as refiners reduced inventories amid slower-than-expected demand recovery. This followed US government figures last week, pointing to growing US crude inventories and declining gasoline demand. However, oil prices…

DIVERSIFIED Namibian company Trustco Group Holdings’ share price leapt 35.56 percent higher to 61 cents after it announced on Monday that a South African high court had granted it the right to review the JSE’s decision to suspend the company’s listing on the bourse. The review application is set down for a hearing on September 5. Trustco approached the high court to prevent the JSE from enforcing its issued suspension decision. In November 2020, the JSE found that Trustco did not comply with the listings requirements in relation to its annual financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2019, and interim results for the six months ended September 30, 2019. At the time, the JSE directed Trustco to take steps to rectify its non-compliance. The JSE then…

THE BLACK Business Chamber (BBC) said on Monday that it was perturbed by Investec’s decision to spend R2 million a year on each of its directors’ personal security, highlighting that corporates needed to be more “forward thinking” in South Africa’s increasing unequal society. In what appears to be a first for South Africa, banking and wealth management group Investec said last week that it would be spending as much as $121 520 (about R2.026 million) a year on each of its executive directors’ personal security as crime levels in the country surge. Mntuwekhaya “Khaya” Cishe, the BBC secretary-general, said in a statement: “While kidnappings have been reported to be on the rise by South African crime data, it is just unimaginable that the company would spend…

ONELOGIX Group has warned that it has become increasingly difficult to operate a logistics company in South Africa due to the great number of challenges outside its control. The group’s shares are currently trading under a cautionary notice that warns of its possible delisting following a transaction that it does not yet name. The group said in a trading statement on Monday: “Within this sluggish economic environment, it has become increasingly costly to conduct a logistics business in South and southern Africa, primarily due to the inability to recover various rising costs from our value chain.” Headline earnings a share were expected to decrease by between 55 percent and 75 percent for the year ended May 31. Headline earnings a share were expected to fall to between 2.8…

US GROUP Prudential Financial and LeapFrog Investments have taken a 33 percent stake in local financial services company Alexforbes Group Holdings after a partial offer to shareholders concluded on Friday. Alexforbes announced in March this year that Prudential was interested in increasing its stake in Alexforbes in a bid to enhance the US financial giant’s emerging market strategy. Alexforbes Group Holdings said on Monday the investors had increased their shareholding to 33 percent with the purchase of a 14.83 percent stake, following the implementation of the Mercer Sale Agreement, and through the acquisition of 246 047 621 Alexforbes shares in terms of a partial offer to all shareholders. The partial offer constituted about 18.2 percent of Alexforbes’ issued shares as at July 8.…