COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Sasol declares force majeure

Sasol has declared a force majeure on the supply of petroleum products after key refinery Natref was forced to shut down on Friday due to delays in the arrival of crude oil shipments.

Sasol said shipments were expected to start arriving on Saturday 16 July, which would see crude oil feed beginning to be restored to Natref.

The aim is to see Natref running at full capacity by month end.

Force majeure is a mechanism that frees parties from contractual obligations in the case of an extraordinary event that prevents them from performing as usual.

"Sasol Oil has declared a Force Majeure on petroleum products as a result of delays in the arrival of crude oil shipments which are beyond Sasol Oil’s control. These delays have impacted availability of crude oil feedstock for processing at Natref, which necessitates the shutdown of its Natref refinery," a Sasol spokesperson told Fin24 on Saturday.

"In the circumstances, Sasol Oil will not be in a position to fully meet its commitments on the supply of all petroleum products from July 2022."

The situation would hopefully be resolved soon, the spokesperson added. -Fin24

Mango creditors accept R85 million less

Mango's creditors have accepted R85 million less from government than the R819 million approved by Parliament in a special allocation 18 months ago, in a bid to avoid a long and possibly costly legal battle.

Mango has, accordingly, received a total of R734 million of the special allocation to date.

The R819 million for Mango was allocated from R10.5 billion approved by former finance minister Tito Mboweni in his 2020 medium-term budget for the implementation of the business rescue plan of Mango's parent company SAA. Mango itself was not in business rescue at the time.

SAA's rescue plan did not provide for funding of SAA's subsidiaries, including Mango. Therefore, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) asked Parliament for a special allocation of R2.7 billion to subsidiaries - including the R819 million for Mango.

Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan told Parliament at the time that funding was also needed for SAA's subsidiaries Mango, SAA Technical and Air Chefs because of the important role they played within the SAA group. That was why the DPE had asked Treasury for R14 billion in total.

A gap in funding was, therefore, created when Treasury allocated R10.5 billion for SAA's business rescue plan only.-Fin24

Standard Bank withdraws mandatory vaccination policy

Standard Bank has has withdrawn its mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy. The bank came under fire for dismissing 40 employees and placing others on special leave for refusing to vaccinate despite the company making it compulsory to do so.

Earlier this month, Standard Bank suspended the policy but it was already in the crosshairs of financial sector union Sasbo.

The bank announced that it had withdrawn the policy on Friday, explaining that its decision was due to its 95% vaccination rate and changes in regulations.

It further explained that every decision it has made during the pandemic was with employee and client interests in mind.

Standard Bank SA CEO Lungisa Fuzile said the policy was introduced in response to the Delta wave in late 2021.

In justification of the decision, Fuzile added that it was the right move at the time because it enabled the bank to meet its obligations and keep employee's safe.

The policy withdrawal means that unvaccinated staff members don't have to take PCR or Rapid Antigen tests before entering banks premises. -Fin24

Tongaat Hulett shares plunge

Tongaat Hulett has approached the JSE for a temporary suspension of its listing, saying it will not be able to publish its financials on time, again.

The company's share price dropped over 17% in early trade on Friday.

Last month, the embattled group recently appointed chief restructuring officer Piers Marsden as part of its efforts to turn the company around.

The company was meant to publish its results for the year ended 31 March 2022 by 30 June but was unable to do so, and it was then granted an extension until 31 July.

However, Tongaat says it will not meet the second deadline either because its restructuring plan has not been finalised. It is also in "final negotiations with the South African lender group to replace the company’s seasonal overdraft facility with a larger short-term 'borrowing base' liquidity facility".

"Due to the delay in the finalisation and publication of the provisional 2022 financial statements and the audited 2022 financial statements, the board has voluntarily approached the JSE and requested a temporary suspension of the company’s shares," Tongaat said in a statement on Friday.-Fin24