COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Aspen gets R523m from Gates Foundation

JSE-listed pharmaceutical company Aspen will receive $30 million (R523 million) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Norway-headquartered Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to help manufacture routine and outbreak vaccines for Africa.

The $15 million each from CEPI and the Gates Foundation is also expected to support a 10-year agreement between Aspen, which is the biggest medicine producer on the continent, and the Serum Institute of India, which aims to expand the supply and sourcing of vaccines manufactured in Africa.

"We thank both CEPI and the Gates Foundation for their commitment to support regional manufacture for Africa. Their commitment, together with our partnership with Serum, is an important first step in ensuring expanded and enduring equitable access to a pipeline of medicines and vaccines manufactured in Africa for Africans," Aspen CEO Stephen Saad said in a statement on Monday.

"Aspen has a proven capability of being at the forefront of pandemic preparedness for the continent - from ARVs to Covid vaccines. This support will ensure we can continue to invest and expand our capacities, secure in the knowledge of future offtakes."

In March the company signed a contract with Johnson & Johnson to manufacture and sell an Aspen-branded Covid-19 vaccine, Aspenovax, throughout Africa. It also packaged and filled vials of the US company’s vaccine at its plant in Gqeberha.

Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, the acting director for Africa Centres for Disease Control, said the agreement was a demonstration of Aspen’s "ambition to further enhance Africa’s vaccine localisation efforts, its intention to diversify the pipeline for Africa-specific vaccines and to improve Africa’s ability to respond to pandemic outbreaks."-Fin24

Prasa botches critical R7.5bn train repair tender

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) faces the threat of total collapse after shedding millions of customers and haemorrhaging revenue over the past four years.

Now its handling of a R7.5 billion overhaul and maintenance tender to get its trains back on track has the potential to deepen the existing crisis.

The general overhaul tender to refurbish and repair Prasa's old and wrecked trains is a critical element of the entity's R173-billion modernisation programme to transform commuter-rail infrastructure, through new electric trains, signalling technology, depot and station upgrades.

The modernisation programme, launched in 2014, was supposed to revive South Africa's passenger rail industry after decades of underinvestment but the reality has been the complete opposite.

The sorry state that Prasa finds itself in is the result of poor governance, bad leadership and rampant theft and vandalism spanning over a decade. This all came to a head in the latter part of 2019 when the organisation cancelled all its irregular security contracts without a workable alternative to protect its sprawling railway network when the country went into lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The statistics are shocking: out of 590 stations only 134 stations were functioning "as the other 323 stations had been vandalised" Prasa’s 2021/22 annual report reads. Of 40 lines only 18 are operational, and only offer limited services, while more than 1 100km of signalling cable and 40km of rail tracks has been either stolen or damaged. The report did not mention the state of the remaining 133 stations.-Fin24

Chris Griffith resigns as Gold Fields CEO

Gold Fields CEO Chris Griffith has resigned in the wake of the company’s failed bid to acquire Canadian precious metals miner Yamana Gold.

Griffith was appointed CEO in April 2021. He was previously CEO at Anglo American Platinum and Kumba Iron Ore

"We thank Chris for the commitment and dedication he showed as CEO of Gold Fields, especially during the Yamana transaction," Gold Fields chair Yunus Suleman said in a statement on Tuesday morning.

"We were all disappointed that the Yamana deal did not go through, as we felt it was a compelling deal which would have created a strong company and created value for all our shareholders.

"The company is performing well, delivering strong shareholder returns and we continue to deliver on the strategy including growing the value and quality of our portfolio of assets."

Griffith said that he and the board agreed that the company’s strategy, including growing the value and quality of its portfolio, should continue.

"But we also felt that the Yamana setback should not be allowed to impede the company’s strategy. So, as CEO I felt that I should take responsibility and allow the company to move forward under new leadership unencumbered by the Yamana transaction," he said.

"I want to thank the board for the opportunity to lead the successful company that is Gold Fields, and to have worked with them to help refine its strategic direction."-Fin24

Ellies flags loss per share

Shares in Ellies crashed more than 12% after it warned of a widening interim loss per share as it grapples with a tough trading environment where consumers are under pressure amid soaring inflation and fuel costs.

At the same time, the 43-year-old electronic goods group was also affected by restructuring process that resulted in an "impact of R18 million in respect of retrenchment costs".

The company - which describes itself as a wholesaler, importer and distributor of LED lighting, electronic and solar solutions - said that it expected a loss per share for the six months ended October of between 3.95c and 4.73c per share, compared with the 3.06c loss in the previous financial year. It said it expected a headline loss per share of between 4.17c and 4.99c, compared with the loss of 4.36c previously.

Ellies, which said it was implementing a turnaround strategy, said the general trading environment continued to be constrained with costs rising due to high global inflation, as well as soaring fuel costs.

However, it said it had seen an improvement in its trading results with revenue increasing 5.6%, compared with the same period last year, while gross profit had also marginally improved over the prior interim period.-Fin24