Company news in brief
SA to bail out Eskom without taking on debts
South Africa will give power utility Eskom a total of R69 billion but will not take on R100 billion of debt as requested by the struggling firm, finance minister Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday.
In its 2019 budget, the treasury said the first step in splitting Eskom would be to transfer a portion of the utility's assets to a new transmission subsidiary that will invite the participation of strategic equity partners to provide capital and strengthen oversight.
Further financial support to Eskom would depend on economic growth, electricity tariffs and the implementation of the company's strategy, the treasury said.
"Pouring money directly into Eskom in its current form is like pouring water into a sieve," Mboweni said in his budget speech. "I want to make it clear: the national government is not taking on Eskom's debt."
"We have had very very difficult conversations with the ratings agencies ... if we are doing practical things to fix Eskom the electricity sector, in my view, that should be viewed as positive," Mboweni told journalists ahead of his speech. – Nampa/Reuters
Deutsche Bank to rebuild in SA
Deutsche Bank is hiring 26 people in South Africa, a spokesman said on Wednesday, less than a year after scaling back the operation in a broad restructuring of its investment bank.
The spokesman said the lender had appointed a new head of corporate finance in South Africa and the remaining hires would be in corporate finance, fixed income and corporate treasury.
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender that has had a presence in South Africa since 1979, reported its first annual profit in four years this month following a turnaround strategy implemented by chief executive Christian Sewing.
As part of the turnaround, Deutsche Bank announced in June it would shut its corporate broking, advisory and sponsor services in South Africa, meaning a small number of job losses among its workforce of around 70 people.
Rival investment bank Credit Suisse said in November it would pull out of South Africa. – Nampa/Reuters
MTN faces more problems in Uganda
Uganda accused the country's biggest telecoms operator, MTN Uganda, on Tuesday of underdeclaring its sales and causing public revenue losses, in a further souring of relations with the South African-owned company.
Uganda deported MTN Uganda's chief executive Wim Vanhelleputte last week, the fourth MTN official to be expelled from the East African country in less than a month on accusations of compromising national security.
The company is a unit of South African telecoms giant MTN Group, which has also had problems in Nigeria where the central bank last year accused it of repatriating US$8 billion without the correct paperwork. The row was later resolved after the company paid a token settlement.
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has repeatedly accused telecom firms in the country of cheating taxes by underreporting the volume of their calls and data sales, but has not named any companies.
MTN Uganda's spokeswoman Justina Ntabgoba said the company had not been given any details of the alleged underreporting of transactions. – Nampa/Reuters
AngloGold looks to streamline assets
South Africa's AngloGold Ashanti said on Tuesday it was putting its interests in an Argentine mine up for sale as it looks to focus on operations with a longer shelf life and ability to deliver higher returns.
AngloGold chief executive Kelvin Dushnisky, Barrick Gold's former president, was appointed to head the firm last year and has rolled out plans to streamline its portfolio, set a 15% hurdle on returns on investment and cut debt leverage targets to a ratio of 1.0 times net debt to adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
The bullion miner, which last year said it planned to sell its interest in its Sadiola mine in Mali, has initiated sales processes for Cerro Vanguardia in Argentina.
AngloGold said its South African Mponeng mine, the world's deepest gold mine, had improved since going through restructuring and there were no immediate plans to sell it.
The world’s third largest gold miner also has new projects on the cards, as it proceeds with a feasibility study for Quebradona, a joint venture with B2Gold, in Colombia. – Nampa/Reuters
Barclays 2018 profit underwhelms as Brexit bites
Barclays reported a lower-than-forecast attributable profit of 3.5 billion pounds (US$4.56 billion) for 2018, as it took a 150 million pound provision against Brexit losses and its trading business weathered a difficult fourth quarter.
Barclays did report signs of progress in its under-pressure investment bank, where profit for the full year increased 15% to 2.6 billion pounds as its equities trading unit saw income rise 25%.
Barclays paid a dividend of 6.5 pence per share and signalled intentions to return more capital via dividend increases and buybacks when it was practical to do so.
The bank's profit of 1.4 billion pounds when conduct and litigation charges were included compared to a 1.9 billion pounds loss in 2017.
Barclays' international division, which houses its investment bank, reported a profit before tax of 3.9 billion pounds, in line with analysts' expectations of 3.95 billion pounds. – Nampa/Reuters
South Africa will give power utility Eskom a total of R69 billion but will not take on R100 billion of debt as requested by the struggling firm, finance minister Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday.
In its 2019 budget, the treasury said the first step in splitting Eskom would be to transfer a portion of the utility's assets to a new transmission subsidiary that will invite the participation of strategic equity partners to provide capital and strengthen oversight.
Further financial support to Eskom would depend on economic growth, electricity tariffs and the implementation of the company's strategy, the treasury said.
"Pouring money directly into Eskom in its current form is like pouring water into a sieve," Mboweni said in his budget speech. "I want to make it clear: the national government is not taking on Eskom's debt."
"We have had very very difficult conversations with the ratings agencies ... if we are doing practical things to fix Eskom the electricity sector, in my view, that should be viewed as positive," Mboweni told journalists ahead of his speech. – Nampa/Reuters
Deutsche Bank to rebuild in SA
Deutsche Bank is hiring 26 people in South Africa, a spokesman said on Wednesday, less than a year after scaling back the operation in a broad restructuring of its investment bank.
The spokesman said the lender had appointed a new head of corporate finance in South Africa and the remaining hires would be in corporate finance, fixed income and corporate treasury.
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender that has had a presence in South Africa since 1979, reported its first annual profit in four years this month following a turnaround strategy implemented by chief executive Christian Sewing.
As part of the turnaround, Deutsche Bank announced in June it would shut its corporate broking, advisory and sponsor services in South Africa, meaning a small number of job losses among its workforce of around 70 people.
Rival investment bank Credit Suisse said in November it would pull out of South Africa. – Nampa/Reuters
MTN faces more problems in Uganda
Uganda accused the country's biggest telecoms operator, MTN Uganda, on Tuesday of underdeclaring its sales and causing public revenue losses, in a further souring of relations with the South African-owned company.
Uganda deported MTN Uganda's chief executive Wim Vanhelleputte last week, the fourth MTN official to be expelled from the East African country in less than a month on accusations of compromising national security.
The company is a unit of South African telecoms giant MTN Group, which has also had problems in Nigeria where the central bank last year accused it of repatriating US$8 billion without the correct paperwork. The row was later resolved after the company paid a token settlement.
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has repeatedly accused telecom firms in the country of cheating taxes by underreporting the volume of their calls and data sales, but has not named any companies.
MTN Uganda's spokeswoman Justina Ntabgoba said the company had not been given any details of the alleged underreporting of transactions. – Nampa/Reuters
AngloGold looks to streamline assets
South Africa's AngloGold Ashanti said on Tuesday it was putting its interests in an Argentine mine up for sale as it looks to focus on operations with a longer shelf life and ability to deliver higher returns.
AngloGold chief executive Kelvin Dushnisky, Barrick Gold's former president, was appointed to head the firm last year and has rolled out plans to streamline its portfolio, set a 15% hurdle on returns on investment and cut debt leverage targets to a ratio of 1.0 times net debt to adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
The bullion miner, which last year said it planned to sell its interest in its Sadiola mine in Mali, has initiated sales processes for Cerro Vanguardia in Argentina.
AngloGold said its South African Mponeng mine, the world's deepest gold mine, had improved since going through restructuring and there were no immediate plans to sell it.
The world’s third largest gold miner also has new projects on the cards, as it proceeds with a feasibility study for Quebradona, a joint venture with B2Gold, in Colombia. – Nampa/Reuters
Barclays 2018 profit underwhelms as Brexit bites
Barclays reported a lower-than-forecast attributable profit of 3.5 billion pounds (US$4.56 billion) for 2018, as it took a 150 million pound provision against Brexit losses and its trading business weathered a difficult fourth quarter.
Barclays did report signs of progress in its under-pressure investment bank, where profit for the full year increased 15% to 2.6 billion pounds as its equities trading unit saw income rise 25%.
Barclays paid a dividend of 6.5 pence per share and signalled intentions to return more capital via dividend increases and buybacks when it was practical to do so.
The bank's profit of 1.4 billion pounds when conduct and litigation charges were included compared to a 1.9 billion pounds loss in 2017.
Barclays' international division, which houses its investment bank, reported a profit before tax of 3.9 billion pounds, in line with analysts' expectations of 3.95 billion pounds. – Nampa/Reuters
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