COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

MTN Ghana grows service revenue

MTN's Mobile Money (MoMo) service in Ghana is taking a hit from the introduction of a levy on electronic transfers which came into effect in May, with revenue from person-to-person (P2P) transactions slipping by double digits in the mobile operator's nine months to end September.

Ghana's government has imposed a 1.5% levy on the value of all electronic transfers, including banks, specialised deposit-taking institutions, payment service providers and electronic money issuers, as a means to earn revenue from digital services. The levy is in addition to other applicable charges.

The operator said revenue from P2P transactions declined by 13.3% year-on-year in the three quarters to end September, with the contribution of MoMo to service revenue falling to 19.1% from 22.8% previously. The firm also took a decision to reduce P2P transaction fees by 25% to cushion the effect on its customers.

Despite the challenges, active MoMo users increased by 16.3% to 12.4 million, the firm said, and overall, MTN Ghana's service revenue grew by 27.9% to 7.1 billion cedi (R9.2 billion).

Data revenue saw the biggest year-on-year jump at 43.7% to 2.8 billion cedi, with data usage jumping by just over half, and the group growing its data subscribers just over a fifth. Voice revenue increased by 23.4% to 2.4 billion cedi.-Fin24

Naspers denies talks to sell Tencent stake

Shares of Naspers and Prosus rallied on Tuesday morning, despite their denial of a report suggesting they are in talks with a consortium led by Chinese state-owned CITIC to sell their lucrative US$70.5 billion (R1.28 trillion) stake in tech behemoth Tencent.

Asian Tech Press reported on Monday that the "strategic infrastructure that affects the country's livelihood" was under consideration, but Naspers said in a statement the report was "speculative and untrue".

Asian Tech Press describes itself as an "information outlet", and has fewer than 4 400 followers on Twitter. The report cites unnamed sources and was written by "Christina", no last name provided.

By mid-morning, shares of Naspers were up almost 11% to R2 103 and Prosus was almost 9% higher at R865, after gaining more than 13% earlier in the session.

The shares benefitted from a sharp run in Tencent's share price on Monday. Reuters reports that Hong Kong and China stocks jumped on Tuesday after rumours based on an unverified note circulating on social media that China was planning a reopening from strict Covid curbs in March triggered a sharp rebound following last month's savage selling.

The Hang Seng Index jumped more than 5%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained nearly 8%. Tencent's share price rallied almost 11%.-Fin24

Sibanye-Stillwater gold mulls restructure

Sibanye-Stillwater's gold division will enter into Section 189 consultations regarding the future of two gold operations, where possible retrenchments could affect 1 959 employees and 465 contractors.

On Tuesday the company said it will enter into talks with organised labour and other affected stakeholders regarding the possible restructuring of its South African gold operations following ongoing losses at the Beatrix 4 shaft and the impact of depleting mineral reserves to the Kloof 1 plant.



The formal consultation process has been launched in terms of Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act and will consider measures to avoid and mitigate possible retrenchments and look for alternatives to the potential cessation or downscaling of operations and associated services.

Possible retrenchment avoidance measures include natural attrition, retirements, voluntary separation and the transfer of suitably skilled employees to vacant positions.

The move comes after Sibanye's gold business and workers clinched a wage deal in June, following a three-month strike.-Fin24