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Photo Reuters

Company news in brief

Alexander Forbes changes nameSouth Africa’s largest pension funds administrator has changed its name and its look. Alexander Forbes changed its name to Alexforbes, and shades of teal have replaced the orange and black colours that the company wore for decades.

The company said this is to show a new Alexforbes that’s moved away from being just a pensions administrator and insurer.

“This shift aligns with its vision of becoming the most impactful provider of financial advice serving both individual customers and institutional clients,” said CEO Dawie de Villiers.

In the past three years, Alexander Forbes sold its insurance operations to focus on being an “advice-led” business. It sold its short-term insurance business to Momentum Metropolitan in 2020 and, in June 2021, announced plans to sell its life insurance business to Sanlam for R100 million.

De Villiers said in the next five years, Alexforbes wants to gain more market share and extend its leading positions across administration, retirements, healthcare and multimanagement capabilities. It also wants to grow its multi-national consulting business model into selected markets in Africa exponentially. – Fin24



SAA lost billions prior to CovidMaterial uncertainties, including whether its strategic equity partnership with the Takatso consortium will get the necessary approvals, “may cast significant doubt on the South African Airways (SAA) group’s ability to continue as a going concern”, according to a report by the Auditor-General.

The report contains financial statements for the year to end-March 2018, but also looks at the airline’s current situation. The 2018 financial results weren’t released before because the auditors withheld their audit opinion, as SAA’s status as going concern was at significant risk. This resulted in the group being placed in business rescue in December 2019.

The report shows that the SAA group – which consists of SAA and its subsidiaries Mango (currently in business rescue and looking for a buyer), SAA Technical and Air Chefs - made a loss of R5.4 billion in 2017/18, with total income of R29.4 billion. This was lower than the R30.7 billion earned in the previous year. – Fin24

Northam did not trigger a ­mandatory offerThe Takeover Regulation Panel in South Africa has ruled in favour of Northam Platinum and determined that the platinum miner’s acquisition of Royal Bafokeng shares has not triggered a mandatory offer be extended to all shareholders.

The panel, a regulatory body established in terms of the Companies Act, launched a probe into whether Northam had possibly triggered a mandatory offer after a request to do so was submitted by the independent board of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).Northam late last year acquired just shy of 35% RBPlat from its parent company Royal Bafokeng Holdings in a contentious deal which stunned the market and rival bidder Impala Platinum. The company had also secured an option to potentially take its shareholding up to more than 38% over time.

When a shareholder acquires 35% or more of a company, it triggers a mandatory offer and so is obliged to offer to buy out all shareholders on the same terms. The RBPlat independent board thought this might be the case but Northam, which has paid a premium for the shareholding, denied it was so.

“Northam is pleased to advise that the TRP has today, 30 March 2022, ruled in favour of Northam’s position that the alleged mandatory offer has not been triggered and accordingly, the RBP TRP submission has been dismissed,” the company said in a statement. – Fin24

Gazprom targeted by EU ­antitrust raidsRussian gas company Gazprom’s offices were raided by EU antitrust regulators, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, as the EU watchdog ramped up its investigation into the company’s gas supplies to Europe.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in January asked gas companies including Gazprom about tight supplies after accusations the Russian giant was withholding extra production that could be released to lower rising prices.

Vestager was likely to intensify information gathering on Gazprom’s European businesses, a person familiar with the regulator’s thinking told Reuters last month.

The European Commission declined to comment and the person declined to provide details of the EU raids.

It is unclear if the offices in Berlin were raided by the EU investigators. Bloomberg was the first to report the raids in Gazprom’s offices in Germany.

Gazprom and the Kremlin have repeatedly denied withholding gas supplies, saying that all firm and long-term obligations have been met.

Companies found breaching EU antitrust rules face fines up to 10% of their global turnover.

Gazprom dodged a fine in 2018 after agreeing to reform its pricing arrangements and pave the way for rivals in eastern Europe following an investigation.

- Reuters

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-28

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Katima Mulilo: 19° | 37° Rundu: 17° | 33° Eenhana: 18° | 33° Oshakati: 20° | 31° Ruacana: 19° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 28° Omaruru: 18° | 31° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Gobabis: 17° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:54, High tide: 04:57, Low Tide: 22:58, High tide: 17:16 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 29km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:55, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:14 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 33km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:54, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:13 Rehoboth: 18° | 29° Mariental: 22° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 34° Aranos: 21° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 21° Luanda: 27° | 30° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 24° Mbabane: 15° | 23° Maseru: 12° | 28° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Cape Town: 17° | 23° Durban: 21° | 25° Johannesburg: 18° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 18° | 30° Harare: 15° | 31° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.87 | EUR to NAD 20.44 | CNY to NAD 2.62 | USD to NAD 18.94 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.8 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.29 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.93 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 219.98/OZ UP +1.33% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.13% | Zinc US$ 2 452.30/T DOWN -0.17% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.52/BBP UP +1.31% | Platinum US$ 907.32/OZ UP +1.39% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 37° Rundu: 17° | 33° Eenhana: 18° | 33° Oshakati: 20° | 31° Ruacana: 19° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 28° Omaruru: 18° | 31° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Gobabis: 17° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:54, High tide: 04:57, Low Tide: 22:58, High tide: 17:16 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 29km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:55, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:14 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 33km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:54, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:13 Rehoboth: 18° | 29° Mariental: 22° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 34° Aranos: 21° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 21° Luanda: 27° | 30° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 24° Mbabane: 15° | 23° Maseru: 12° | 28° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Cape Town: 17° | 23° Durban: 21° | 25° Johannesburg: 18° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 18° | 30° Harare: 15° | 31° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.87 | EUR to NAD 20.44 | CNY to NAD 2.62 | USD to NAD 18.94 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.8 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.29 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.93 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 219.98/OZ UP +1.33% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.13% | Zinc US$ 2 452.30/T DOWN -0.17% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.52/BBP UP +1.31% | Platinum US$ 907.32/OZ UP +1.39%