Company News in Brief

NinetyOne reports climb in assets Asset manager NinetyOne lifted more than 5% after it reported that its assets under management climbed about 2% to £130.2 billion (R3 trillion) in its third quarter to end-December relative to the prior three months, and about 4.7% year on year. SA's largest asset manager noted recently that global equities ended the final quarter in negative territory, including locally, driven by a sharp December sell-off following the Federal Reserve's cautious outlook on interest rate cuts for 2025. But there was significant divergence among geographies, with US equities rising to another all-time high in November before trailing off in the final month of the year, albeit still remaining up for the quarter. -FIN24 Prudential Authority applies for liquidation of Ithala SOC The SA Reserve Bank's Prudential Authority (PA) has applied to the Pietermaritzburg High Court for the provisional liquidation of Ithala SOC Limited. The group, which is owned by the KwaZulu-Natal province, provided financing and financial services to smaller local businesses and individuals. Ithala has been at the centre of several controversies in the past, including around a large loan that was paid to the wife of former health minister Zweli Mkhize in 2006. At the time, Mkhize was KwaZulu-Natal MEC for economic development and had political oversight of Ithala.-FIN24 SA lawmakers to engage banking industry The Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition, as well as the Standing Committee on Finance, will meet with SA's major banking groups in February to gain a better understanding of their lending practices and their contribution to economic transformation. The meeting will include The Banking Association of South Africa (BASA), as well as ABSA, Capitec, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank, all of whom have confirmed their attendance at the meeting.-FIN24 Vivo, Huawei overtake Apple in China Apple was dethroned as China's biggest smartphone seller in 2024, with local rivals Vivo and Huawei overtaking the iPhone maker after its annual shipments in the country declined 17%, data from research firm Canalys showed on Thursday. It was Apple's largest annual smartphone sales decline in China since 2016 and involved contraction in all four quarters, including a 25% drop in the final quarter, according to the data. For the full year, budget smartphone maker Vivo captured a 17% market share in China, followed by premium rival Huawei with 16% and Apple with 15%, demonstrating the growing sales pressure it faces from domestic manufacturers in one of its biggest global markets. – Reuters.Nintendo shares tumble Nintendo shares tumbled as much as 7% on Friday after the Japanese games giant failed to impress with a teaser video of its hotly awaited Switch 2 console. The brief clip released Thursday showed a gadget that is bigger but broadly similar in appearance to the original hybrid Switch, which can be handheld or connected to a television. Nintendo gave no technical specifications such as screen resolution or processing power for the sleek-looking machine, which will be on sale — for an undisclosed price — at some point in 2025. — AFP.Bank of England to delay implementation of tighter banking regulationsThe Bank of England said on Friday it would delay the implementation of tougher bank capital requirements by one year until January 2027, amid an aggressive pushback against the stricter global standards in the United States. The standards written by the global Basel Committee are designed as the final set of international reforms to make the banking system safer after the 2008 global financial crisis and are meant to be implemented by member jurisdictions. They have faced fierce opposition from US banks. The potential next head of the US banking regulator, Travis Hill, has laid out plans for lighter touch regulation and said he would reconsider the capital rules known as the "Basel endgame". — Reuters.Apple delays role out of software update Apple pushed out a software update on Thursday which disabled news headlines and summaries generated using artificial intelligence that were lambasted for getting facts wrong. The move by the tech titan comes as it enhances its latest line-up of devices with "Apple Intelligence" in a market keen for assurance that the iPhone maker is a contender in the AI race. Apple's decision to temporarily disable the recently launched AI feature comes after the BBC and other news organisations complained that users were getting mistake-riddled or outright wrong headlines or news summary alerts. — AFP.

Company News in Brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-24

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Company News in Brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-24

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