JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The furniture retailing arm of troubled South African lender African Bank Investments has applied for temporary protection from creditors, it said on Thursday. Ellerine Furnishers said in a regulatory filing it had applied for “voluntary business rescue” under South Africa’s Companies Act. African Bank, which shocked the market on Wednesday when it said … Read more
By David Dolan and Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURGÂ (Reuters) – Investors fled African Bank Investments on Thursday, sending its shares tumbling to a near-20 year low as the South African lender looked unable to plug a $790 million hole in its finances from a tide of unsecured loans that have gone bad. The bank, widely known as … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s manufacturing production unexpectedly grew by 0.5 percent year-on-year in volume terms in June after contracting by a revised 3.8 percent in May, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis, factory production was up 1.4 percent, but fell 0.4 percent in the three months to June compared with the previous three … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa has awarded Cipla Medpro a 280 million rand ($26 million) share of a government tender to supply therapeutic drugs from Aug. 1, the company said on Thursday. The contract will run for two years and the majority of products supplied will be in the mental health, cardiovascular and women’s health categories, the … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s power utility Eskom has agreed a 75 million euro loan with the European Investment Bank to support its 100 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant, the company said on Thursday. “Eskom is committed to investing in projects that will diversify our energy mix, including renewable resources,” Eskom’s senior general manager for renewables Ayanda Nakedi said. … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s business confidence fell to its lowest in 15 years in July, amid concerns that rising wage demands by unions will lead to higher unemployment, a survey by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed on Thursday. The SACCI business confidence index dropped to 87.9 in July from 89.7 in June, the … Read more
For the transcript, video and audio of Alec Hogg’s interviews on the Abil disaster click on the names below: * Veteran stockbroker David Shapiro * Former CFO David Woollam * Sanlam’s head of equity Patrice Rassou JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Shares of South Africa’s African Bank Investments plunged for a second day on Thursday on widening worries the struggling … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Paper maker Mondi posted a slight rise in first-half earnings on Thursday as a strong performance in its packaging business offset lower prices of paper grades. Mondi, which is also listed in London, said diluted headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of June totalled 48.2 euro cents from 45.6 euro … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African wireless carrier MTN Group reported a 9 percent rise in first-half profit on Thursday, as strong demand for its high-margin data services offset slow voice growth at home. Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 725 cents in the six month ended June compared with … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand hovered close to the previous day’s 4-1/2 week trough against the dollar on Thursday, weighed down by risk aversion over the political crisis in Ukraine and lingering worries about domestic growth prospects. The rand retreated about three cents after the Reserve Bank said net gold and foreign exchange reserves dipped to $44.315 … Read more