Company news in brief
ABB to pay billions over Eskom bribesSwedish-Swiss industrial company ABB agreed to pay US$315 million (R5.5 billion) to settle US criminal charges that it bribed state-owned Eskom of South Africa over government contracts, the department of justice (DOJ) announced Friday.
Two affiliates of ABB each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, the US agency said of a settlement that was coordinated with government authorities in Switzerland, Germany and South Africa.
The issue concerns a troubled project near Johannesburg with the Kusile power station, the fourth largest coal-fired generator in the world, which has been fraught with allegations of graft. South Africa’s struggling power utility Eskom commissioned the plant in 2007.
In October eight people, including former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko, were arrested on corruption charges linked to the ABB work.
Between 2014 and 2017, ABB through its subsidiaries secured “multiple” government contracts, syphoning illicit payments through subcontractors associated with an official at Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned power company, the DOJ said. – Fin24/AFP
Premier cans JSE listingInvestment holding company Brait said on Friday it has opted not to list fast-moving consumer goods group Premier on the JSE due to volatility, especially over the past 48 hours.
Brait owns 97% of Premier, whose brands include Iwisa maize, Snowflake flour and Mr Sweet, and announced plans in November for a potential listing, giving an equity valuation of between R6.9 billion and R8.9 billion.
The offer size was R3.7 billion, with R200 million of this a “greenshoe” option, which allows the issuing company to receive more capital if demand is higher than anticipated.
“Premier received a significant amount of investor interest and support for the business. However, the South African capital markets (in particular over the last 48 hours) have not been conducive to supporting a successful Initial Public Offering,” Brait said in a statement. “Therefore, the Premier board and shareholders have resolved not to proceed with the offer at this time.”
Brait had said if the listing didn’t proceed, Premier would then move private, in terms of which retail magnate Christo Wiese’s Titan and RMB - as underwriters of the proposed listing - would acquire roughly 50% of the group for R3.5 billion, with the remainder held by Brait. – Fin24
Tiger Brands delivers dividend increaseSA’s largest food producer, Tiger Brands, has delivered a double-digit dividend increase with full-year net profit rising by just over half, even as it battled a high inflation environment with consumers under pressure.
The firm said on Friday it was able to raise selling prices by 11% in its 2022 year although it did experience a slight dip in volumes in its domestic business.
Tiger, which owns brands such as Jungle Oats, Tastic rice and Albany bread, reported on Friday that its profit for the year to end September was R2.85 billion, up almost R1 billion.
It declared a full year dividend to shareholders of 973c, an 18% increase over the previous year, and representing about a R1.75 billion payout. Its final dividend came in 29% higher at 653 cents.
Tiger said it had “delivered a credible set of results despite tough trading conditions and significant input cost inflation”, adding that the year under review could be described as a “year of two halves”.
The company said that total revenue from continuing operations increased by 10% to R34 billion, driven by price inflation of 11% and a “marginal overall volume decline of 1%”.
The group also struck a cautious note in its outlook, saying that the year ahead was “likely to remain challenging” with high interest rates, unemployment and inflation expected to continue hurting cash-strapped consumers. – Fin24
US airline Delta includes Cape Town in routesUS airline Delta started its new direct route between Cape Town and Atlanta in the US on Saturday.
The airline has already offered direct flights between Atlanta and Johannesburg since December 2006.
The direct flight between Cape Town and Atlanta will be part of a new seasonal triangular route consisting of a direct flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, which will continue on from there to Cape Town, and then directly back to Atlanta from Cape Town. This seasonal triangular route will be offered until the end of March next year.
This new service will increase Delta’s capacity to South Africa by 67%.
On top of that, Delta will start to offer a year-long direct flight from Atlanta to Cape Town and back as from 18 December.
The other destinations in Africa to which Delta currently flies, are Accra in Ghana, Dakar in Senegal, and Lagos in Nigeria. The airline has a code share partnership with Kenya Airways for intra-Africa travel, and a trans-Atlantic partnership with Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. – Fin24
Nampak crashes nearly a thirdShares in Nampak plunged by nearly a third on Thursday after it warned it would have to undertake a rights issue of up to R2 billion to pay down debt and increase capacity on its beverage can line.
Nampak, which is SA’s biggest manufacturer of cans, said it planned to hold an extraordinary meeting to get the necessary approvals to go ahead with a rights issue sometime in the first quarter of next year.
The company at the same time said headline earnings per share were expected to decrease to between 33c and 37c for the year ended September, compared to headline earnings per share of 62.3c in the prior year, representing a decrease of between 41% and 47%.
Nampak said that with its current debt package and US private placement funding maturing in December 2023 and May 2023 respectively, coupled with the “requirement to repay R1.35 billion of net debt by 31 March 2023”, the group was required to refinance its debt package before the end of March next year.
“This refinancing is in process and subject to the group raising capital of no less than R1.35 billion by 31 March 2023.”
Nampak said about R1.35 billion would be used to repay its lenders “as a minimum requirement for the refinancing”. – Fin24
Two affiliates of ABB each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, the US agency said of a settlement that was coordinated with government authorities in Switzerland, Germany and South Africa.
The issue concerns a troubled project near Johannesburg with the Kusile power station, the fourth largest coal-fired generator in the world, which has been fraught with allegations of graft. South Africa’s struggling power utility Eskom commissioned the plant in 2007.
In October eight people, including former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko, were arrested on corruption charges linked to the ABB work.
Between 2014 and 2017, ABB through its subsidiaries secured “multiple” government contracts, syphoning illicit payments through subcontractors associated with an official at Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned power company, the DOJ said. – Fin24/AFP
Premier cans JSE listingInvestment holding company Brait said on Friday it has opted not to list fast-moving consumer goods group Premier on the JSE due to volatility, especially over the past 48 hours.
Brait owns 97% of Premier, whose brands include Iwisa maize, Snowflake flour and Mr Sweet, and announced plans in November for a potential listing, giving an equity valuation of between R6.9 billion and R8.9 billion.
The offer size was R3.7 billion, with R200 million of this a “greenshoe” option, which allows the issuing company to receive more capital if demand is higher than anticipated.
“Premier received a significant amount of investor interest and support for the business. However, the South African capital markets (in particular over the last 48 hours) have not been conducive to supporting a successful Initial Public Offering,” Brait said in a statement. “Therefore, the Premier board and shareholders have resolved not to proceed with the offer at this time.”
Brait had said if the listing didn’t proceed, Premier would then move private, in terms of which retail magnate Christo Wiese’s Titan and RMB - as underwriters of the proposed listing - would acquire roughly 50% of the group for R3.5 billion, with the remainder held by Brait. – Fin24
Tiger Brands delivers dividend increaseSA’s largest food producer, Tiger Brands, has delivered a double-digit dividend increase with full-year net profit rising by just over half, even as it battled a high inflation environment with consumers under pressure.
The firm said on Friday it was able to raise selling prices by 11% in its 2022 year although it did experience a slight dip in volumes in its domestic business.
Tiger, which owns brands such as Jungle Oats, Tastic rice and Albany bread, reported on Friday that its profit for the year to end September was R2.85 billion, up almost R1 billion.
It declared a full year dividend to shareholders of 973c, an 18% increase over the previous year, and representing about a R1.75 billion payout. Its final dividend came in 29% higher at 653 cents.
Tiger said it had “delivered a credible set of results despite tough trading conditions and significant input cost inflation”, adding that the year under review could be described as a “year of two halves”.
The company said that total revenue from continuing operations increased by 10% to R34 billion, driven by price inflation of 11% and a “marginal overall volume decline of 1%”.
The group also struck a cautious note in its outlook, saying that the year ahead was “likely to remain challenging” with high interest rates, unemployment and inflation expected to continue hurting cash-strapped consumers. – Fin24
US airline Delta includes Cape Town in routesUS airline Delta started its new direct route between Cape Town and Atlanta in the US on Saturday.
The airline has already offered direct flights between Atlanta and Johannesburg since December 2006.
The direct flight between Cape Town and Atlanta will be part of a new seasonal triangular route consisting of a direct flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, which will continue on from there to Cape Town, and then directly back to Atlanta from Cape Town. This seasonal triangular route will be offered until the end of March next year.
This new service will increase Delta’s capacity to South Africa by 67%.
On top of that, Delta will start to offer a year-long direct flight from Atlanta to Cape Town and back as from 18 December.
The other destinations in Africa to which Delta currently flies, are Accra in Ghana, Dakar in Senegal, and Lagos in Nigeria. The airline has a code share partnership with Kenya Airways for intra-Africa travel, and a trans-Atlantic partnership with Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. – Fin24
Nampak crashes nearly a thirdShares in Nampak plunged by nearly a third on Thursday after it warned it would have to undertake a rights issue of up to R2 billion to pay down debt and increase capacity on its beverage can line.
Nampak, which is SA’s biggest manufacturer of cans, said it planned to hold an extraordinary meeting to get the necessary approvals to go ahead with a rights issue sometime in the first quarter of next year.
The company at the same time said headline earnings per share were expected to decrease to between 33c and 37c for the year ended September, compared to headline earnings per share of 62.3c in the prior year, representing a decrease of between 41% and 47%.
Nampak said that with its current debt package and US private placement funding maturing in December 2023 and May 2023 respectively, coupled with the “requirement to repay R1.35 billion of net debt by 31 March 2023”, the group was required to refinance its debt package before the end of March next year.
“This refinancing is in process and subject to the group raising capital of no less than R1.35 billion by 31 March 2023.”
Nampak said about R1.35 billion would be used to repay its lenders “as a minimum requirement for the refinancing”. – Fin24
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