Company News in Brief

Gold Fields says Australian miner Gold Road rejected its R38bn takeover offerGold Road Resources rejected a takeover valuing the Australian miner at A$3.3 billion (R38 billion), according to Gold Fields. Johannesburg-based Gold Fields said Monday it put forward a non-binding proposal to buy the Perth-based company for A$3.05 a share in cash on March 7, valuing its equity at A$3.3 billion and implying a total enterprise value of A$2.4 billion.Gold Roads’ board rejected the offer, it said. Gold Roads didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. The acquisition would consolidate Gold Fields’ ownership of the joint-venture Gruyere mine it operates in Western Australia, in which Gold Road holds a non-operating interest, the South African company said.Gold Road put forward an alternative proposal to buy out Gold Fields’ stake at the joint venture operation, which it in turn rejected. -FIN24 Sun International announces exit of CEO - picks new Swedish successorResorts operator and gaming group Sun International announced on Monday that CEO Anthony Leeming will be leaving the group at the end of December.Leeming, who has been in the position since 2017, is set to be replaced by Swedish gaming veteran Ulrik Bengtsson, who is the former CEO of UK-based gaming group William Hill - which describes itself as the world's biggest bookmaker.Sun International said on Monday that Leeming had provided notice of early retirement with effect from 31 December in order to pursue personal opportunities outside of the group. He will oversee the transition but is set step down as CEO with effect from 1 July, though this may be earlier depending on when Bengtsson receives his SA work permit. Bengtsson will be relocating to SA.Leeming has been with the group since 1999 and has recently overseen a push by the group to an omnichannel strategy to link up its gaming experiences and leverage its brands, and it has seen impressive online gaming growth. Under Leeming, the group has also made a hefty push to acquire Emperors Palace owner Peermont, though this still needs approval from competition authorities. -FIN24 Heathrow Airport 'fully operational' after fire shutdownHeathrow Airport said it was "fully operational" Saturday but there were some delays and cancellations as Europe's busiest air hub resumed operations a day after a power station fire caused travel mayhem.The electricity substation blaze knocked out power at the London airport, closing it for most of Friday before some flights began to arrive and take off later in the evening.The shutdown affected thousands of passengers around the world and raised serious questions about the reliability of one of the UK's most critical pieces of infrastructure."We can confirm that Heathrow is open and fully operational today," an airport spokesperson said on Saturday morning."Teams across the airport continue to do everything they can to support passengers impacted by yesterday's outage at an off-airport power substation."About 1 350 flights were affected by Friday's closure, according to the Flightradar24 tracking website. Around 120 Heathrow-bound planes were in the air when the closure was announced and had to be diverted. -AFP STADIO hikes dividend, eyes 100k students and a school of engineeringPrivate higher education group STADIO has upped its final dividend by over half, saying on Monday it remains confident it can about double its student base again in the coming years as it looks to reach 100 000.The group, which started in 2017 with just 840 students, reported on Monday that revenue climbed 14% to R1.6 billion and core headline earnings — its preferred measure that removes non-trading related items — climbed 28% to R267 million. Its student base grew 8% to 50 039 in the second semester, with distance learning students growing by 14%.The group increased its final dividend by 51% to 15.1c per share — or R128 million — and has no external debt. Its margins improved, including its loss allowance falling to 8.7% from 9%, and CEO Chris Vorster told investors during a presentation on Monday that the group is in position to "shift gears" after laying a foundation for growth.Valued at just over R6 billion on the JSE, STADIO provides access to higher education through its three registered private higher education institutions — STADIO Higher Education, Milpark Education, and AFDA — offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.WeBuyCars plans to provide buyers with mechanical test reportsJSE-listed used vehicle buyer and seller WeBuyCars is considering investing in facilities to conduct mechanical tests on the vehicles it sells to provide this information to the consumer base in South Africa.WeBuyCars sales director Janson Ponting has also stressed the importance and need for the used vehicle industry and consumers to have public access to the full accident damage database of insurers listing vehicles that were involved in accidents and declared uneconomical to repair and written off.Ponting said a mechanical test on a vehicle is very difficult to do, but WeBuyCars can see the value it can provide to consumers.However, WeBuyCars chief marketing officer Rikus Blomerus emphasised that mechanical vehicle reports for the vehicles it sells are part of “a future plan”.“We went to the US to investigate and so it’s not something that is going to roll out next week – maybe in three, four, five or six months down the line because it’s so important to us,” he said. -MONEYWEB

Company News in Brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-26

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Company News in Brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-26

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