PPC accounting ‘errors’; Eskom power cuts; Zimbabwe stocks plunge; S&P500 soars

By Jackie Cameron

• PPC, South Africa's largest cement maker, plunged deeper into crisis after reporting accounting errors and delaying the release of full-year earnings for a second time. Bloomberg says mistakes were made in valuing operations in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe in the year through March 2019. The company also miscalculated the accounting of a foreign-exchange transaction in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These errors have now been corrected, PPC said. The emergence of financial discrepancies comes at a crucial time for PPC, which has plunged more than 80% in value over the past 12 months as South Africa's weak economy and the global Covid-19 crisis hammered demand for building materials.
• Zimbabwe's benchmark stock index has slid by 21% since the government allowed trading to resume just over two weeks ago. The Zimbabwe Industrial Index had surged almost 700% in 2020 before trading was halted on June 26 by authorities who blamed dealing in stocks for contributing to a plunge in the local currency, says Bloomberg. The government said shares of Old Mutual, PPC and Seedco, which have listings outside the country, were being used to manipulate foreign-exchange rates. They remain suspended.
• Eskom will implement planned blackouts today (Wednesday) after breakdowns at a number of power stations. MyBroadband.co.za reports that South Africa could be stuck with load-shedding until at least 2025 due to Eskom's continued problems with generation capacity and inability to properly maintain its infrastructure. It says the CSIR recently published a presentation which said South Africans should not only expect load-shedding to continue over the next three years but added that it is expected to get significantly worse.
• The S&P500, an index of the biggest companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange, hovered near record levels on Tuesday, BizNews partner Wall Street Journal reports. The "remarkable rebound" of stock prices comes after the coronavirus pandemic sent shockwaves through the economy and financial markets.