PIC dismissal Ayo-linked; VW Uitenhage off-grid; SA business ease slips; Tesla; Clicks; Harvard

By Linda van Tilburg 

• The Public Investment Corporation has dismissed a portfolio manager linked to the R4.3bn investment in Ayo Technology Solutions. Victor Seanie was dismissed following a disciplinary hearing. He has been on suspension with the executive head of listed investments at the PIC, Fidelis Madavo for blatant flouting of governance and approval processes at the PIC. The offices of Ayo Technology were raided by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority earlier this month. It followed after the PIC said it was considering legal action against Ayo to prevent the ICT company from transferring funds offshore.
• It may have taken longer than expected but Tesla’s shares have soared with short sellers coming up short with mark-to-market losses of about $1.5bn. The stocks of the electric car manufacturer gained as much as 20% as the market opened, its highest intraday price since March 1. This comes after Tesla surprised the market after it posted an unexpected quarterly profit, the first in almost a year. The company also said it was “highly confident” of reaching the lower end of its prior annual delivery of 360-400,000 units and that it was ahead of schedule of a new car plant and the launch of a new Model Y crossover. It was a good week for Musk as its rooftop-solar business also managed to stage a bit of a turnaround.  Installations increased for the first time in a year.
• The Clicks Group reported a 16.8% rise in full-year earnings despite the squeeze on households with higher fuel and electricity prices. It was driven by a strong growth in retail and distribution businesses. Chief Executive Vikesh Ramsunder said in a statement that sales in retail, health and beauty products which include Clicks and franchise brands GNC, the Body Shop and Claire’s rose by 10.5%. Ramsunder said the group offered differentiated products and added new stores. Sales in retail pharmacies rose to 24.9% by August end from 23.9% last year. One in four medicines sold in South Africa came from a Clicks pharmacy he said. Market news is that the Rand was holding firm trading at R14.65 to the greenback yesterday. On the JSE miners gained with Harmony Gold and African Rainbow Minerals stocks rising more than 6% and Kumba Iron Ore was up more than 5%, and Assore shares climbed by more than 4%.
• Following problems with the continuous supply of electricity in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Volkswagen plans to take its Uitenhage manufacturing plant off the national electricity grid. The company is planning a biogas facility that will produce electricity from organic waste at a set-up cost of R3.5bn that would create 1,000 jobs. VW’s German parent company has approved the project, but it would need to a permit and be signed off by the Minister of Energy. The construction of the biogas plant would take about 18 months.
• South Africa has slipped two places in the World Bank’s rankings for ease of doing business. Soaring are West African nations Togo which shot up 50 places to 97 and Nigeria from 131 to 146. Togo lowered electricity prices, fees for construction permits and streamlined property-registration processes, while Nigeria cut the time to register a business, upgraded e-systems for imports, exports and trade fees. Mauritius remains the easiest place to do business in our region.
• Normally the mention of Harvard economic advice would be welcomed, but not by all South Africans and especially not the Economic Freedom Fighters who questioned the academics‘ motives to contribute to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s turnaround plan for the economy. The EFF said there was nothing intellectual about the Harvard perspective calling it new-liberal drivel. It was laughed off by Mboweni who told the EFF to win the elections first.