Новости за 09.06.2021

Four years in, the R127-million Small-Scale Grower Cane Development project has recorded notable successes, with over 860 sustainable jobs created and 3 000 ha of cane developed on communal land owned by small-scale growers. Moreover, the project has engendered benefits for members of the community, in terms of jobs, tangible income and skills development, stakeholders reported during a media site visit to the Sezela community, south of Durban, on June 8.

The government investment promotion programme Invest SA on June 8 launched a new website to provide prospective and existing investors with relevant information to invest in the country. A new Doing Business in SA website was simultaneously launched to provide small businesses and entrepreneurs with the information, documents and contacts needed to start a business.

Technology services company EOH has entered into a share purchase agreement for the sale of Sybrin to a consortium group comprising One Thousand & One Voices (1K1V) Management and Crossfin Technology (CFTH) and their black economic empowerment partners led by Isaac Mophatlane. The sale is for a cash consideration of R334-million, which, after adjusting for net debt, non-operating assets and working capital, equates to an enterprise value of R410-million.

Wholly women-owned energy company Meadows Energy has been announced as G7 Renewable Energies’ partner for the Oya hybrid energy project, which straddles the the Western and Northern Cape provinces in South Africa. The 128 MW Oya hybrid facility, which will eventually offer dispatchable renewable energy as part of the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), will use co-located wind turbines, solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, lithium-ion batteries and a hybrid controller... Читать дальше...

Fourth Industrial Revolution laboratory Forge Academy, in partnership with Nokia and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) SMME Chamber, will host a showcase for small and medium-sized tech businesses and tech startups in Fourways on June 30. The showcase is aimed at highlighting the development and growth of the small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMME) tech sector in South Africa and provide a platform for tech SMMEs that are creating employment and training opportunities, especially for the youth.

Retail-focused real estate investment trust Hyprop has made positive progress on its key strategic priorities in the first four months of this year, including having taken steps to strengthen its balance sheet. Hyprop, which has properties in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Southern-Eastern Europe, says its key priorities are to reposition its South African portfolio, while increasing the dominance of the properties in the South-Eastern European portfolio.

JSE-listed cement manufacturer PPC has signed a binding sale and purchase agreement with a Botswana-based construction and mining company, which will buy PPC’s 100% shareholding in PPC Aggregate Quarries Botswana. The transaction is valued at 47.5-million Pula, equivalent to R60-million, and should be finalised by August 1.

JSE-listed petrochemicals giant Sasol says its oil hedge restructuring is progressing well. The company says it has made significant progress in deleveraging its balance sheet following a strong operating performance in a more supportive macroeconomic environment, continuing cash conservation measures and ongoing asset divestments.

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has welcomed the call from government to procure additional wind and solar energy from independent power producers (IPPs) to supply, over and above, what is currently allowed under their existing power purchase agreements (PPAs). SAWEA has engaged with its members to ascertain if the sector is able to provide additional power, in line with the recent call by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE).

European Union (EU) regulations that are supportive of bioethanol use will provide an opportunity for South Africa in terms of the production of ethanol fuels through various manufacturing methods. South Africa produces just over 400-million litres of ethanol a year, of which 180-million is used for potable purposes and traded within Africa at a good price, but it does not have a “very vibrant” ethanol sector yet, largely owing to the country’s unsupportive regulatory framework.

South African private-sector regional airline Airlink has announced that it will start scheduled services to Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. The service will start on July 19 and will be operated four times a week. “Entebbe, which is situated on the shores of Lake Victoria, serves Kampala, which is Uganda’s economic and trading hub, but also an important gateway to the Eastern Africa economic community and the Great Lakes region, which represents a significant market,” explained Airlink CEO and MD Rodger Foster. Читать дальше...

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Deloitte South Africa have signed a memorandum of understanding to support the World Economic Forum Affiliate Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution South Africa (C4IR SA) as it accelerates the application of emerging technologies. The duo will draw on their complementary skills, technical expertise and capabilities to support the work of the C4IR, which was established by the South African government, through the Department of Science and Innovation... Читать дальше...

Professional services firm PwC’s twenty-fourth yearly ‘Global CEO Survey’ finds that CEOs have an improved outlook and record high optimism about the global economy, with 68% of CEOs in Africa believing growth will improve this year. This compares with 76% of CEOs outside of Africa being optimistic that growth will improve this year.

Annual clean energy investment in emerging and developing economies needs to increase by more than seven times, from less than $150-billion in 2020 to over $1-trillion by 2030, if the world is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, a new report shows. The ‘Financing Clean Energy Transitions in Emerging and Developing Economies’ report warns that economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America are set to account for the bulk of emissions growth in the coming decades unless stronger action is taken to transform their energy systems.

The United Arab Emirates Embassy in South Africa said it has ratified an extradition treaty with the African country. The treaty was signed on April 11, the embassy said in a statement on Wednesday. Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, confirmed the statement. South Africa has been pursuing members of the Gupta family who moved to Dubai amid allegations that they had stolen billions of rand from state companies. Some of their assets... Читать дальше...

Researchers at the Engineering 4.0 facility of the University of Pretoria (UP) are conducting a project to determine damage suffered by fresh produce while being transported intercontinentally from the growers to the retailers. They are doing so by using artificial ‘avocados’, produced by means of ‘3D printing’ (more formally called additive manufacturing) and embedded with microsensors. “This is a flagship project of Engineering 4.0 which focuses on smart transport, infrastructure and cities,” highlighted... Читать дальше...

Load-shedding will be increased to Stage 4 from 14:00 this afternoon until 22:00 tonight, after which it will revert to Stage 2, Eskom has announced. It says this is due to additional breakdowns of a unit at Medupi and two units at the Duvha power station, together with the high winter demand, as well as to ration the remaining emergency generation reserves, which have been depleted.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) Business Confidence Index (BCI) improved by 2.3 index points to 97 in May, compared with 94.7 in April. Sacci states that the month-on-month improvement in the BCI reflects the resilience of the business community.

The Hurst Hill reservoir is still running low after the two-hour shut down of Rand Water’s Eikenhof Pumping Station on June 5 to enable City Power to fix an electrical fault on the power line. This setback had negatively impacted recovery, as the water supply system recovers slowly during the day owing to high water demand.

More than half (54%) of the country’s unpaved road network is in either poor, or very poor condition, while about a third (30%) of the paved network is in poor, or very poor condition, says consultancy Frost & Sullivan. The Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West, in particular, are struggling with the maintenance of their respective road networks, while nearly a quarter of the total metropolitan road network is in danger of degrading from fair to poor condition.

Coffeehouse multinational Starbucks will start a trial of its reusable Cup-Share initiative, which is aimed at reducing single-use plastic waste, in the UK, France and Germany over the coming months. The Cup-Share initiative is part of its ongoing approach to encourage customers to use reusable cups and the programme will be rolled out across 43 countries by 2025.

Wind power could make it possible to produce hydrogen without emitting greenhouse gases as cheaply as is currently feasible with fossil fuel energy by 2030, turbine maker Siemens Gamesa said in a white paper released on Wednesday. Policymakers see green hydrogen, which is made with renewable power without emitting carbon, as a vital tool to help shift economies away from planet-warming energy sources and to stave off climate change, but want to reduce its sky-high costs.

Stationery retailer CNA - that has been around for 125 years - has been placed in business rescue, its management team confirmed on Tuesday. Business rescue means that a company gets breathing space from debt and other repayments, while business rescue practitioners take full management control. They then decide whether the business can be restructured to survive. Failing that, they would aim to achieve a better return for the company's creditors and shareholders than an immediate liquidation of the company would.

South Africa's high-flying rand held its ground on Wednesday, after better-than-expected economic growth data the previous day had bolstered hopes of an improvement in the country's finances. Strong first quarter GDP data on Tuesday had showed a 4.6% quarter on quarter gain. It was ahead of consensus expectations for a 3.2% jump and analysts at JPMorgan said it kept the economy on course for a 5% growth spurt this year and a 2.5% expansion in 2022. It has triggered debate about whether the country's... Читать дальше...

A shift to “regenerative mining” of coal reserves is a crucial part of a solution to a greener, cleaner future, said African Source Markets CEO Bevan Jones on Wednesday. Jones, a former commodity trader at Macquarie and Rand Merchant Bank, who cofounded the global coal market in London in the late 1990s, spoke to Mining Weekly about the just transition. The opportunity exists to create win-win, sustainable green revenue streams as coal mines approach closure through the simultaneous regeneration of a healthy soil-food-web, clean water and air.