Новости за 06.03.2024

It is critical that the failure to comply with carbon budgets and greenhouse-gas (GHG) mitigation plans by companies emitting GHGs attracts meaningful penalties to ensure that polluters make progress in addressing GHG emissions, says shareholder activism organisation Just Share. The Climate Change Act will, once in force, for the first time provide South Africa with a law that is specifically aimed at developing an effective response to climate change.

JSE-listed integrated poultry producer Astral Foods has disposed of its 9.8% interest in Quantum Foods for R141.7-million. “At the time Astral acquired the 9.8% equity stake in Quantum Foods in June 2020, there were unmitigated risks the group had to manage. These risks centred around securing the supply of live broilers to Astral’s County Fair operation in the Western Cape from Quantum.

Industry regulator the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) on March 6 launched the Transformation Property Partnership programme, which is aimed at enabling meaningful youth employment in the growing property sector as part of its transformation efforts. The programme is aimed at empowering previously disadvantaged real estate firms and youth and to open up access in the sector.

The Rand Merchant Bank/Bureau for Economic Research (RMB/BER) Business Confidence Index (BCI) ticked down by one point to reach 30 in the first quarter, indicating that business conditions deteriorated further. The index level indicates that seven out of ten survey respondents are unsatisfied with prevailing business conditions.

Government and business have set a goal of increasing South Africa’s electricity generation capacity by 10.5 GW by the end of 2025 as part of ongoing collaborative efforts to tackle growth-sapping power disruptions and reduce the intensity and almost daily frequency of loadshedding by year-end. In a briefing held following the latest meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet and those senior business leaders who have committed to supporting government in overcoming its loadshedding, logistics and crime crises... Читать дальше...

Following a challenging 2022 financial year, JSE-listed vertically integrated seafood company Sea Harvest has managed to grow its earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) by 15% to R576-million in the 2023 financial year. The group’s profit after tax attributable to shareholders was, however, 9% lower at R282-million, compared with R310-million in the prior year.

The City of Cape Town is receiving support from German development agency the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through an embedded generation adviser and seconded project managers, who support the implementation of the city's projects funded through the C40 Climate Finance Facility (CFF). The C40 CFF projects are the Green Infrastructure and Improved Catchment Management project, the Paardevlei Solar Farm and Net Zero Carbon Municipal Buildings project, the City of Cape Town mayoral committee says.

JSE-listed Murray & Roberts (M&R) has reported a significant year-on-year reduction in its attributable loss for the six months ended December 31, 2023, signalling a positive turn in its financial performance. The company recorded a substantially reduced attributable loss of R95-million for the six months under review, which is in stark contrast to the R2.5-billion loss reported for the six months ended December 2022.

Business organisation Business Unity South Africa’s (Busa’s) board of directors has appointed Khulekani Mathe to take over as Busa CEO in January 2025 when Cas Coovadia retires. Mathe was appointed deputy CEO on February 1, 2023, and he formed part of the business team working with the government on addressing the transport and logistics crisis under the auspices of the National Logistics Crisis Committee.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability and monetisation have emerged as three key themes in the 2024 edition of advisory firm Deloitte’s 'Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions' report. The TMT report outlines 19 global trends for 2024, grouped into four categories or themes, namely generative AI; sustainability; media, entertainment and sports; and telecoms and technology, said Deloitte Global TMT research head Paul Lee.

With a total pipeline of work of R240-billion, up from R211-billion in June, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon’s (WBHO’s) short- to medium-term future “should be okay”, says CEO Wolfgang Neff. “It’s not all doom and gloom in our space. I think it looks pretty good. Our earnings are at their best levels in over a decade. I think we are in a really, really good space at the moment.”

Distributed renewable energy (DRE) is going to be essential to achieve the goal of universal access to energy by 2030, both in Africa and globally. So highlighted World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme lead energy specialist Raihan Elahi, on Wednesday. He was addressing a session of the Africa Energy Indaba, in Cape Town. “We’re really off track” regarding achieving universal access to energy by 2030, he pointed out. Worldwide, in 2020, 675-million people still had no access to electricity... Читать дальше...

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have assured that the Eskom intelligence report and the National Skills Fund matters will be flagged for consideration in the seventh administration, following the dissolution of the sixth Parliament in May. The SIU and Scopa signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), on Wednesday, to strengthen its cooperation in investigating and reporting matters relating to public funds.

Energy company TotalEnergies has acquired, with its partner State-owned QatarEnergy, participating interests in Block 3B/4B offshore of South Africa from Africa Oil South Africa, Azinam and Ricocure. Block 3B/4B is adjacent to the Deep Water Orange Basin licence operated by TotalEnergies, in which it has a 50% stake, alongside QatarEnergy wth 30% and Sezigyn with a 20% stake.

The Competition Appeal Court's (CAC's) decision to dismiss chemicals and energy company Sasol's application to review the Competition Commission’s investigation into alleged excessive pricing of natural piped gas paves the way for the commission to refer a case against Sasol Gas to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution. "The CAC decision re-emphasises the commission’s mandate to investigate and prosecute excessive pricing complaints in the natural piped gas industry in terms of the Competition Act.

The Southern African Power Pool’s (SAPP’s) Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility (RTIFF) will be managed by climate-focused blended finance fund manager Climate Fund Managers (CFM), it was jointly announced on Tuesday, on the fringes of the 2024 Africa Energy Indaba, in Cape Town. The RTIFF, developed by the SAPP in partnership with the Southern African Development Community (SADC), aims to raise $1.3-billion to finance improved electricity interconnection and cross-border ...

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, also known as the Hawks, was given a new fleet of cars last month to improve its response time and broaden the national footprint of the investigative branch of the police. Thabi Shomolekae has the story.

Regional tourism organisation the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Business Council Tourism Alliance has completed a two-day train-the-trainer workshop on tourism disaster risk management and crisis communication. Communication, risk management and tourism officials from 11 SADC member States attended the training session, which was aimed at providing them with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively manage and communicate during crises, specifically in the tourism sector.

Ethiopian Airlines has agreed to purchase eight Boeing 777-9 widebody jets, with potential for up to 12 additional aircraft orders, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday. Major airlines are in a race to place new orders for fuel-efficient widebody jets to keep operating costs down and to cater to booming international travel demand.