Cape Times 2023-10-23

TIGER Brands’ share price surged as high as 19% on Friday following the food-producing company announcing that its CEO Noel Doyle will step down and be replaced by Tjaart Kruger. Doyle will remain available to Tiger Brands until March 31, 2024, to facilitate a proper handover. The shares hit a high of R176.39 on Friday, closing the day 1.19% up at R164.70. In a statement, the group said following the board’s annual review of the company’s strategy, it had concluded that new leadership was required to respond to the challenges currently facing the company. “The board and Noel Doyle have jointly agreed that Noel will step down as chief executive officer of the company and accordingly as executive director and member of the social, ethics, and transformation committee,” it said.…

SOUTH Africa’s stock of layer hens is projected to decline to an all time low of 17.3 million birds due to the avian flu outbreak, down 23.8%, a more than 10 million flock decline from 27.6 million in 2019 as experts predict that it will take the industry at least 17 months to recover. Trade and biohealth protocols, especially in the Southern African Development Countries bloc bar vaccinations due to fears of the prevalent H796 and H5N1 avian flu strains mutating, as the virus normally does. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (Dalrdd) and the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) told the portfolio committee on agriculture, land reform and rural development on Friday that all viruses had mutating tendencies all the time. The concern is…

Stocks on the JSE fell for the fourth day in a row on Friday, following an emerging markets retreat due to global risk-off sentiment, Middle East tensions and interest rate uncertainty. The JSE All Share Index ended Friday 1.1% lower to 70 198 points, its lowest level in 11 months since November 9, in line with major global peers Among individual stocks, the worst performer was Lighthouse Properties which fell 6.5%, followed by Sun International at 5.5%, Anglo American at 4.3%, and Bytes which eased by 4.1%. However, shares of food producer and consumer goods company Tiger Brands surged by more than 11% after it said CEO Noel Doyle would step down and would be replaced by Tjaart Kruger from November. For the week, the JSE lost about 3.7%,…

Coronation Fund Managers said Friday it expected earnings would decrease by between 55% and 65% as a result of the financial impact of the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement regarding the tax litigation for the group’s international operations. The group said in a trading update that total assets under management as at September 30, 2023 was R602 billion. “The full impact on earnings of the tax and interest related to the aforementioned tax ruling amounts to 205 cents per share,” it said in the statement. The Constitutional Court issued a directive that it would hear the company's application for leave to appeal and hear arguments on the merits of the matter. The application was still to be set down for hearing by the Constitutional Court. Fund management earnings per share…

China’s move on Friday to curb exports of graphite, a key electric vehicle battery material, will only accelerate efforts to develop alternative sources and materials, but that will take time, industry executives and analysts said. China, the world’s largest graphite producer and exporter, will require export permits as of December 1 for some graphite products, including spherical graphite used by carmakers. It refines more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material used in almost all EV battery anodes, which is the negatively charged portion of a battery. China’s decision may escalate trade disputes globally and spur other countries to prioritise research into alternative sources and materials, industry executives said. “We see China’s move as a potential catalyst to highlight the urgency of improving (US) graphite supply,” said John…

WESCOAL’S parent company, Salungano, could be trading under insolvent circumstances, NG Global Energy Solutions – which has given the coal mining company up to 10 days to pay back R11.2 million for failure to honour a coal supply contract – claims in a court application. The application is seeking the liquidation of Salungano which, according to court papers, was supposed to deliver coal to NG Global Energy Solutions, a South African commodity trading company. Financial woes have been swirling around Salungano and its subsidiary, Wescoal, over the past few months. Rocked by the resignations of three members of its audit and risk committee, Salungano also has liabilities surpassing R1 billion, most of which should be settled within the next six months. Now, the company, which recently won a…