Company news in brief
Old Mutual to sell Nedbank shares
South Africa’s Old Mutual Ltd said on Wednesday it would sell around 5.5 million shares in Nedbank Group Ltd to select institutional investors, following the spin-off of the unit.
Old Mutual, which holds a majority stake in Nedbank, has been dismantling its conglomerate structure, created after a series of acquisitions, since it moved its headquarters and primary listing to London in 1999.
-Nampa/Reuters
Mediclinic flags drop in H1 core profit
Mediclinic on Wednesday flagged an 8% drop in core profit for the first six months of the year, sending its shares tumbling 19%.
The private hospital group, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, blamed weaker-than-expected growth in admissions in Switzerland and a slow second quarter in Southern Africa.
Group adjusted core profit, or EBITDA, would fall to 214 million pounds (US$282 million) versus 232 million pounds in the same period a year ago.
Mediclinic said it has faced stricter regulations in recent years in Switzerland that have hobbled growth. The firm did not specify the changes introduced under the new regulations.
In May, the company took a US$863 million writedown on its Swiss business, which plunged the company into an annual loss of 288 million pounds.
The firm’s chief executive, Ronnie van der Merwe, said the regulatory changes in Switzerland had a greater than expected impact on hospital admissions, while in Southern Africa, there were fewer pneumonia and bronchitis cases during the winter.
-Nampa/Reuters
Public funds join push to remove Zuckerberg as Facebook chairman
Four major US public funds that hold shares in Facebook Inc on Wednesday proposed removing chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg as chairman following several high-profile scandals and said they hoped to gain backing from larger asset managers.
State treasurers from Illinois, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, co-filed the proposal. They oversee money including pension funds and joined activist and original filer Trillium Asset Management.
A similar shareholder proposal seeking an independent chair was defeated in 2017 at Facebook, where Zuckerberg’s majority control makes outsider resolutions effectively symbolic.
Rhode Island State Treasurer Seth Magaziner said that the latest proposal was still worth filing as a way of drawing attention to Facebook’s problems and how to solve them.
“This will allow us to force a conversation at the annual meeting, and from now until then in the court of public opinion,” Magaziner said in a telephone interview.
A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment.
-Nampa/Reuters
MTN getting closer to settlement with Nigeria
Nigeria’s central bank and South African telecommunications firm MTN could soon strike a deal in their dispute over the repatriation of US$8.1 billion, Nigeria’s information minister said on Wednesday.
The central bank says MTN transferred US$8.1 billion of funds out of Nigeria in breach of foreign-exchange regulations. Nigeria, which accounts for a third of the South African company’s annual core profit, is MTN’s biggest market.
“I am sure there will be a settlement and I believe they are getting closer to resolving it,” Information Minister Lai Mohammed told Reuters during a visit to London.
“They are ‘businessmen’ and they are going to resolve it... it is in the interest of all the parties that this matter will be resolved,” he said, declining to give any further details.
MTN’s shares have lost a fifth of their value since the Nigerian central bank ordered the firm and the four banks involved - Standard Chartered PLC, Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC Citibank and Diamond Bank PLC - to bring back the funds on Aug. 29. Governor Godwin Emefiele said earlier this month that the central bank may reduce the amount.
-Nampa/Reuters
Steinhoff says investors to suspend legal battle as firm recovers
Steinhoff said on Wednesday investors who are suing the crisis-hit firm had agreed to suspend litigation until next year, allowing the retailer time to focus on its recovery.
The lawsuit brought in the Netherlands was aimed at compensating investors for the more than 14 billion euros (US$16 billion) wiped off Steinhoff’s market value since the retailer uncovered accounting irregularities last year.
-Nampa/Reuters
South Africa’s Old Mutual Ltd said on Wednesday it would sell around 5.5 million shares in Nedbank Group Ltd to select institutional investors, following the spin-off of the unit.
Old Mutual, which holds a majority stake in Nedbank, has been dismantling its conglomerate structure, created after a series of acquisitions, since it moved its headquarters and primary listing to London in 1999.
-Nampa/Reuters
Mediclinic flags drop in H1 core profit
Mediclinic on Wednesday flagged an 8% drop in core profit for the first six months of the year, sending its shares tumbling 19%.
The private hospital group, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, blamed weaker-than-expected growth in admissions in Switzerland and a slow second quarter in Southern Africa.
Group adjusted core profit, or EBITDA, would fall to 214 million pounds (US$282 million) versus 232 million pounds in the same period a year ago.
Mediclinic said it has faced stricter regulations in recent years in Switzerland that have hobbled growth. The firm did not specify the changes introduced under the new regulations.
In May, the company took a US$863 million writedown on its Swiss business, which plunged the company into an annual loss of 288 million pounds.
The firm’s chief executive, Ronnie van der Merwe, said the regulatory changes in Switzerland had a greater than expected impact on hospital admissions, while in Southern Africa, there were fewer pneumonia and bronchitis cases during the winter.
-Nampa/Reuters
Public funds join push to remove Zuckerberg as Facebook chairman
Four major US public funds that hold shares in Facebook Inc on Wednesday proposed removing chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg as chairman following several high-profile scandals and said they hoped to gain backing from larger asset managers.
State treasurers from Illinois, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, co-filed the proposal. They oversee money including pension funds and joined activist and original filer Trillium Asset Management.
A similar shareholder proposal seeking an independent chair was defeated in 2017 at Facebook, where Zuckerberg’s majority control makes outsider resolutions effectively symbolic.
Rhode Island State Treasurer Seth Magaziner said that the latest proposal was still worth filing as a way of drawing attention to Facebook’s problems and how to solve them.
“This will allow us to force a conversation at the annual meeting, and from now until then in the court of public opinion,” Magaziner said in a telephone interview.
A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment.
-Nampa/Reuters
MTN getting closer to settlement with Nigeria
Nigeria’s central bank and South African telecommunications firm MTN could soon strike a deal in their dispute over the repatriation of US$8.1 billion, Nigeria’s information minister said on Wednesday.
The central bank says MTN transferred US$8.1 billion of funds out of Nigeria in breach of foreign-exchange regulations. Nigeria, which accounts for a third of the South African company’s annual core profit, is MTN’s biggest market.
“I am sure there will be a settlement and I believe they are getting closer to resolving it,” Information Minister Lai Mohammed told Reuters during a visit to London.
“They are ‘businessmen’ and they are going to resolve it... it is in the interest of all the parties that this matter will be resolved,” he said, declining to give any further details.
MTN’s shares have lost a fifth of their value since the Nigerian central bank ordered the firm and the four banks involved - Standard Chartered PLC, Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC Citibank and Diamond Bank PLC - to bring back the funds on Aug. 29. Governor Godwin Emefiele said earlier this month that the central bank may reduce the amount.
-Nampa/Reuters
Steinhoff says investors to suspend legal battle as firm recovers
Steinhoff said on Wednesday investors who are suing the crisis-hit firm had agreed to suspend litigation until next year, allowing the retailer time to focus on its recovery.
The lawsuit brought in the Netherlands was aimed at compensating investors for the more than 14 billion euros (US$16 billion) wiped off Steinhoff’s market value since the retailer uncovered accounting irregularities last year.
-Nampa/Reuters
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