Новости за 11.02.2021

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act would be amended within the next three months to increase “the licensing threshold for embedded generation”. The current licence-exemption cap is set at 1 MW, with projects above that size required to follow a licensing process with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa that has been designed primarily for utility scale investments.

The metallurgical engineering degree programme offered by the University of Pretoria (UP) Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT), has been ranked the best of its kind in South Africa for 2020 by the tertiary education support organisation the Minerals Education Trust Fund (METF). "The Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering has a long and proud history of more than 60 years... Читать дальше...

The City of Johannesburg’s Smart City Office, in collaboration with digital innovation hub Tshimologong Innovation Precinct, invites technology and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) start-up companies to submit proposals for smart city innovative solutions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The top three proposals will be taken into rapid development and supported by Tshimologong’s virtual bootcamp and will receive a prototyping grant of R500 000 each.

Domestic appliance manufacturer Defy on February 11 launched its latest innovation, the Solar Hybrid fridge and freezer products, during a virtual event. The product range includes a fridge and a chest freezer, both of which use solar and grid power.

Europe-based major aerospace company Airbus has partnered with five French companies and agencies to launch a global ‘call for expressions of interest’ in opportunities presented by the adoption of hydrogen as a fuel source by aviation and airports. In addition to Airbus, the consortium is composed of airline group Air France-KLM, airports company Groupe ADP (previously, Aéroports de Paris), the Paris Region (somewhat akin to a South African province) and the Choose Paris Region investment promotion agency. Читать дальше...

Steel merchant Macsteel has committed to its paying small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) suppliers within 30 days, in a bid to contribute to the growth of this critical sector of the South African economy. Macsteel is the latest company to join Business for South Africa’s (B4SA’s) #PayIn30 campaign.

Manufacturing output increased by 1.8% in December 2020 compared with December 2019, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on February 11. Nedbank said it was the first time that annual factory output had grown since May 2019, surpassing the bank’s expectation of a contraction.

Power management solutions company Eaton welcomes a move by the European Union (EU) away from sulphur hexafluoride- (SF6-) based electrical switchgear toward more environment-friendly alternatives. Eaton power division business development manager Marcel Buckner, presenting during a webinar on the subject of SF6 switchgear on February 11, says such gear was developed during the 1960s as a better alternative to oil but that leakage of the odourless and colourless gas from gear is polluting the environment.

State-owned Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), an entity of the Department of Transport, reported on Thursday that it was seeking to monetise assets and activities, to improve its liquidity and significantly decrease its capital and operational expenditure. This was to help it respond to the damage inflicted upon global aviation by the Covid-19 pandemic and governmental measures to try and contain it. “In responding effectively to the devastating impact of the pandemic we have adapted our strategy... Читать дальше...

Platinum-group metals (PGM) producer Impala Platinum (Implats) says it has received an A rating for its water disclosure submission to global voluntary disclosure nonprofit organisation CDP for the 2020 CDP Water Disclosure Project. The rating, which also marks the second consecutive year Implats has achieved this score, places it in the leadership band with a select group of only 106 companies for achieving best practice in their 2020 disclosure, awareness and management of water security risk.

In the recent past, environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria were predominantly focused on environmental impact and related governance issues, such as climate change. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the everyday lives of people across the world, more companies are realising the importance of the social and governance aspects of ESG, says diversified miner Exxaro Resources CEO Mxolisi Mgojo, who is also president of the Minerals Council South Africa.

The demands on financial institutions are changing rapidly as younger age groups start to actively participate in the acquisition of assets, says WesBank Motor CEO Ghana Msibi. “I expect the motoring industry, including vehicle finance, to evolve more in the next five years than it has in the past four decades.”

JSE-listed tile and bathroomware manufacturer Italtile has achieved trading profit growth of 38% year-on-year to R1.4-billion for the six months ended December 31, 2020. The company declared an interim ordinary dividend of 31c apiece, up 35% from the 23c apiece interim dividend declared for the six months ended December 31, 2019.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic’s “devastating impact” on the South African economy, it is “critical” that President Cyril Ramaphosa identifies what measures the South African government will implement to affect the country’s economic recovery, says Herbert Smith Freehills Africa Group global co-chairperson Peter Leon ahead of the President’s State of the Nation Address on February 11. Referring to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects Report, published in January, Leon says South Africa’s gross... Читать дальше...

A much improved trading environment has enabled investment and property holding company ARB Holdings to achieve increases across the board during the six months ended December 31, 2020. Following a year of lockdowns and restrictions amid a global pandemic which dragged the company’s 2020 full year results, ARB has “bounced back” from the adverse conditions to report a solid performance in the first half of the year.

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) return to profit in the second half of its 2020 financial year on the back of steel-shortage-induced price rises that negatively affected many domestic downstream consumers and have led to growing calls for a lifting of import protection. The JSE-listed company recorded a loss in the first half of the Covid-afflicted year, when almost all its operations were halted for the first time in the company’s history, but recovered to a R1.02-billion profit in the second six months.

Failure by the 2015 Eskom board to interrogate the submission to authorise a R1.68-billion prepurchase payment to a Gupta-owned company cast doubt on the directors prudence, with State Capture Commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo going as far as calling them negligent on Wednesday. The board had approved the transaction as part of a contract to secure continued coal supply by the Optimum Coal Mine, which was on the verge of changing hands. The mine, formerly owned by Glencore... Читать дальше...