Cape Times 2023-02-06

OPTIMISM among South African private businesses has slipped to a six-month low amid growing concerns about the intensity of load shedding in the future and its impact on demand. This comes as South African business activity in January deteriorated the most in more than a year due to heightened and prolonged power cuts and weak economic conditions. The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) on Friday fell to contractionary territory of 48.7 points in January of 2023 from 50.2 points in December, with the impact of load shedding contributing to solid falls in activity and new orders. The latest PMI reading pointed to the first downturn in the country’s private sector in three months, and the sharpest rate since December 2021. This comes as South African…

SOUTH African regional airline Lift is on track to increase its available seat capacity by 305% to roughly 1.5 million seats this year, according to Jonathan Ayache, the co-founder and chief executive of Lift Airline. This was a huge increase from 370 000 seats, he said. In a Business Report interview last week, Ayache said: “Lift is adding four aircraft to its fleet, which has been done using flexible capacity that can easily be increased or decreased based on demand. “We have expanded our route network with the launch of both the Johannesburg-Durban route and, most recently, the Durban-Cape Town route. We’re on track to increase our available seat capacity to roughly1.5 million seats in 2023, a huge increase from 370 000,” Ayache said. Despite all…

COAL miner and exporter Thungela, which has announced the acquisition of an Australian thermal coal asset, says it remains committed to investing in South Africa although it is now seeking geographical diversification to de-risk operational challenges occasioned by infrastructure constraints from Transnet and Eskom. On Friday, Thungela announced the A$340 million (R4.1 billion) acquisition of a controlling interest in Australia’s Ensham coal mine from Japanese-owned Idemitsu. The acquisition has largely been seen by market analysts as landmark in spreading risk for the company, but has been criticised by others as coming at a high price, which may affect dividend payments. The share price in Thungela on the JSE firmed 0.83% to close at R224.3 on Friday. Thungela chief executive July Ndlovu told Business Report on Friday that acquisition of the…

Post-graduate degree in engineering, business administration, economics needed ESKOM has officially gone to the market in search of a highly competent chief executive whose major tasks will be to keep the lights on and completing the unbundling process after the departure of Andre de Ruyter at the end of March. This comes after De Ruyter, who was the highest-earning board member at R7.04 million per annum, resigned voluntarily in December but said he would stay on for the next three months to facilitate a smooth transition. In an internal and external advertisement posted on its website, the struggling power utility said the new group chief executive must have a postgraduate degree in engineering, business administration, economics or suitable qualification at NQF level 8 with 480 credits. However, an undergraduate…

WHEN Tik Tok appears in front of the US Congress next month, it won’t be the only Chinese technology company receiving the US lawmaker’s attention. Another Chinese tech company, Huawei, is receiving the toughest sanction from the mighty US. It is now reported that the Biden administration has stopped granting export licences to US companies to export most items to Huawei. This is a major setback for Huawei as the company will have difficulty making devices that have the necessary functionality for the market. This is almost the final nail in the coffin designed by the US government for this Chinese technology giant. Whether it succeeds, the act, together with TikTok’s appearance in front of congress, signals that the US is declaring war on Chinese technology companies. Where does this…

COAL, YOU CAN love it or hate it as a fossil fuel, but for South Africa it is still a vital component of its energy mix. Approximately 30% of the coal mined in South Africa is exported while the other 70% is consumed locally in the generation of electricity, feed for steel, gasification at Sasol, and inputs in other industries. Exports bring in the bucks. But due to Transnet’s woes companies are struggling to get their commodities to local ports. Coal exports were at a record low from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) of 50.35 million tons (Mt) last year. Levels this low were last seen in 1997 at 58Mt. This was a lost opportuni- ty for South African exporters during a time when coal prices were at…