Cape Times 2021-07-30

Banks plan for Sassa grant pay points in the wake of infrastructure damage Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za BANKS had made contingency plans for the payment of social security grants and salaries at the end of the month, in the wake of extensive damage to the infrastructure of banks in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and parts of Gauteng in the recent unrest, the Banking Association of South Africa (Basa) said yesterday. More than 1 400 automatic teller machines (ATMs) and 269 bank branches were vandalised or destroyed in the unrest. It said banks, retailers and the South African Post Office were working with the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), which distributed 2 012 894 old-age pensions, child support and disability grants in Gauteng and 2 669 885 in…

Cash-flush Anglo American plc returns $4.1bn to its shareholders Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za ANGLO American plc, the globally diversified mining company, is returning a whopping $4.1 billion (R60.6bn) to shareholders following record profits during the first half ended June 2021, the company said yesterday as it signalled confidence in the long-term pro- spects in South Africa, despite the recent civil unrest that rocked the country. The 104-year old diversified mining company proposed a $2.1bn and an interim dividend of $1.71bn a share and approved the distribution of an extra $2bn, including a $1bn on- market share buyback programme to be executed on the JSE and the London Stock Exchange as well a special dividend of $0.80 a share equal to $1bn. Chief executive Mark Cutifani said: “We are…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za IMPERIAL Holdings has reached an agreement to buy 100 percent of the J&J Group for an enterprise value of $300 million (about R4.4 billion) as it furthers its “Gateway to Africa” logistics solutions strategy. The deal comes just as Imperial prepares to fall under new ownership following the R12.7bn cash bid by Dubai-based ports operator DP World Logistics to buy Imperial. Imperial’s share price closed 0.8 percent higher at R61.80 on the JSE yesterday. J&J does end-to-end logistics along the Beira and North-South corridor, specialising in break-bulk, containerised, project, fuel and out-of-gauge cargo transport between Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The acquisition would provide “scale in end-to-end cross-border transportation services in key African countries and…

Consumers to continue paying more as producer prices inflate Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za Consumers will continue forking out slightly higher prices for goods as producer prices remained elevated near a five-year high in June. Data by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that annual headline producer price inflation (PPI) for final manufactured goods jumped 7.7 percent in June. This June producer inflation followed a 7.4 percent rise in May and was slightly above market expectations of a 7.3 percent surge. StatsSA said this was the biggest annual rise in headline PPI since February 2016 when the rate was 8.1 percent. A low base effect from last year also weighed in on the PPI reading as producer prices increased by a smaller 0.5 percent in June 2020. FNB economist…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za ARCELORMITTAL South Africa (Amsa), Africa’s biggest steel maker, withheld its interim dividend payout despite swinging to an interim profit and slashing debt during the half-year ended June this year. As a result, its shares dipped and ended the day 9.69 percent lower at R6.43 on the JSE yesterday. Chief financial officer Desmond Maharaj told the virtual financial pre- sentation for the six months ended June this year that the company had a long way to go before strengthening its balance sheet. “Once we think the balance sheet is strong enough, and resilient enough to handle the various steel cycles, then we will be in a position to have a discussion about when we can resume the dividend,” said Maharaj. Amsa rode the wave of surging international…

NEF unveils new R150m fund to support black manufacturers GIVEN MAJOLA given.majola@inl.co.za THE NATIONAL Empowerment Fund (NEF) has been allocated R150 million by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to establish the Black Business Manufacturing Fund (BBMF) in an attempt to support black entrepreneurs in manufacturing various products locally across all key sectors of the economy. To qualify for BBMF funding, companies must be majority owned by black people with a minimum of 51 percent black ownership, among other criteria. The NEF, a provider of innovative transformation solutions for an economically inclusive economy, said yesterday that this was in response to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent call for the acceleration of the implementation of local Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan aimed at rebuilding the local economy.…