Cape Times 2022-02-16

More than 94 percent voted in favour of the €2.2 billion (R37.7bn) takeover Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za DISTELL shareholders voted with a clear majority of more than 94 percent in favour of the €2.2 billion (R37.7bn) takeover by international brewing giant Heineken International, in what is likely to be the biggest foreign investment in South Africa this year. There had been grumbling among some shareholders about the low price of R180 per Distell share. For example, the large asset management firm Ninety One came out only a day before yesterday’s extraordinary general meeting to say they believed the bid to be unfair and too low. In the event, Distell shareholders holding more than 18 million shares voted against the deal. Remgro, which owns around 30 percent of Distell,…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE US International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled that there was a reasonable indication that South Africa and Brazil were “injuring the US market” with their exports of fresh lemons and juice concentrates − a sour outcome for the local citrus industry. This ruling, late on Monday, is a prelude to a protracted process of investigation likely to take months through which South Africa and Brazil will fill out already provided questionnaires and comply with the US authorities, leading to an adjustment in duties which could go in any direction. General manager of the South African Juice Association (Saja), Rudi Richards, confirmed that South Africa and Brazil had been sent questionnaires by the ITC, which was expected to take them until March to complete, and…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za FALLOUT from a forensic investigation into Oceana appears to be snowballing, as the fishing products group yesterday announced the surprise resignation of its chief executive (CEO) Imraan Soomra. Only days before this, Oceana Group suspended its chief financial officer, Hajra Karrim, “on a precautionary” basis, saying it had started a process to appoint an acting CFO. This was days ahead of the anticipated completion of an internal audit investigation by law firm ENSAfrica into how the group accounts for its US fishing interests. The news sent the group’s shares tumbling 4.59 percent lower to close at R55.51 with investors spooked by the “fishy” fallout. Its shares have fallen 22.43 percent in three years. Last week Oceana said it had to once more delay the release of…

WITH mild fiscal consolidation set to continue, this year’s National Budget has the potential to be very “boring”, a feature quite liked by markets and credit rating agencies. Under the stable hands of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, markets do not expect that this year’s Budget, on February 23, will reveal any need for the credit rating agencies to change the rating of South Africa (SA). Key will be the debt projections, and the assessment of debt-sustainability; and both the financial markets and the credit rating agencies will be looking closely to see if the fiscal consolidation trend in both the projected metrics and in recently improved fiscal metrics seeing the momentums maintained. Any significant increase in the borrowing requirement would most likely be negative for bond markets on SA’s already…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za NO SIGNIFICANT tax changes are expected in next week’s Budget Review, as the revenue overrun is forecast to be more than R200 billion higher than the original Budget estimate. PwC said yesterday that South Africa’s fiscus would continue benefiting from a high corporate income tax this year, buoyed by a long rally of elevated commodity prices. In his Medium-Term Budget last year, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revised upwards the revenue for 2021/22 by R120bn to reach R1.485 trillion compared to R1.365trillion in February 2021. For the 2022/23 fiscal year, the Treasury estimated tax revenues at R1.527trillion, only 2.8 percent higher than the estimate for the 2021/22 year. PwC head of tax policy Kyle Mandy said yesterday that this revised estimate was still conservative in…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za GOLD prices advanced to an eight-month high, rising above $1 870 (R28 360) early yesterday, as an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine continued to drive investors away from riskier assets, in favour of the safe-haven yellow metal. The crisis in eastern Europe has weighed in on the markets, extending a global sell-off fuelled by fears that Russia is about to invade Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due for talks in Moscow yesterday, in search of a diplomatic solution to avoid a war in Ukraine. Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg also said that indications that Russia was willing to pursue diplomacy over the Ukraine crisis were positive, though there was no evidence yet of Moscow pulling back troops from the border. However, the price of gold…