Cape Times 2023-05-15

THE RAND tanked to an all-time low on Friday, reaching R19.52 against the US dollar, surpassing the R19.35/$1 achieved at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, on the back of a diplomatic fallout between South Africa and the US over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The currency tumbled as reports of South Africa potentially supplying military equipment to Russia added to a slew of bad news, including escalating electricity outages and the negative effects this is having on economic growth and the health of state finances. The US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben E Brigety II, accused South Africa of having “uploaded weapons and ammunition” to a Russian vessel called Lady R that docked in Simon’s Town harbour in December. “We are confident that weapons were loaded on to that…

Responsibility of protecting the national grid put in the hands of electricity users, while government scrambles to avert a grid collapse ESKOM has placed the responsibility of protecting the national grid in the hands of electricity users, while the government scrambles to avert a grid collapse on the back of deteriorating generation capacity. This comes as the National Rationalised Specifications Association finalises the new national rationalised specifications document – NRS048-9 Revision 2 – which proposes load shedding schedules of up to stage 16 following Eskom’s application. The struggling power utility on Friday said it had opened applications for the demand-side management programme, which provides a financial incentive for demand reduction by commercial and residential customers. Through the Demand Side Management (DSM) programme, Eskom has so far been able to avert…

SOUTH Africa has been plagued by severe load shedding for the past few months. Winter is fast approaching and Eskom is proposing load shedding schedules of up to stage 16, with load curtailment for industries up to stage 4, the highest. Business Report spoke to some retailers to find out how they are preparing themselves should stage 16 take place. Retailer Pick n Pay, which released its results this month and had spoken extensively about the impacts of load shedding on its performance, said it took the view that the power crisis was a permanent new reality. “Our priority is to provide uninterrupted service for customers in our stores, whatever the level of load shedding. “We will keep adapting our plans and our operations…

THE COMPETITION Commission has given the green light to the merger of Takatso Aviation and national carrier South African Airways (SAA) with part of the conditions being that Global Aviation and Syranix completely divest from Takatso to limit the lessening and prevention of competition in the domestics airlines market space. The Competition Commission’s decision, which is still to go before the Competition Tribunal for consideration, allows Takatso to acquire 51% of the issued share capital of SAA from the South African government as represented by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) while the remaining 49% shareholding in SAA will be retained by the DPE. In a statement, Siyabulela Makunga, spokesperson for the commission, said the approval first hit a snag on the parties’ rejection of the divestiture and employment…

ASCENDIS Health’s share price slipped 4.8% to 60 cents on Friday after it said that it had put a subsidiary, Surgical Innovations (SI), into business rescue. In the six months to December 31, 2022, Ascendis raised a R67 million provision in its interim results because of a dispute between SI and the South African Revenue Service (Sars) relating to value added tax for the 2018 to 2020 tax periods. SI distributes surgical and acute care medical equipment and consumables in South Africa. It represents reputable global agencies and has an equipment footprint that services private and government hospitals. Ascendis said at the weekend that SI’s underlying business remained sound and presented “attractive prospects.” It was, however, burdened by “onerous non-operational creditor agreements and disputes with Sars relating to…

RICHEMONT would likely continue to face economic volatility and political uncertainty in the new financial year and it would remain agile so as to manage fluctuating demand levels, chairperson Johann Rupert said on Friday. Commenting at the release of the results for the year to March 31, he said their Maisons were well positioned to meet strong demand, such as that driven by a significant resumption of Chinese travel, following the lifting of Covid restrictions and a significant increase in sales there in the final quarter. Over the past year, “the group has drawn on the strength of its Maisons and the resilience of luxury consumers in an environment characterised by geopolitical volatility, economic uncertainty and high inflation,” said Rupert. The luxury watches and accessories group with brands such as…