COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

James Finlay, Tea Kenya lose certificationAn international body said it had suspended its certification for two major global tea companies after an investigation into a sexual abuse scandal in Kenya.The Rainforest Alliance announced the move against James Finlay (Kenya) Ltd and ekaterra Tea Kenya Plc, meaning that tea sold by them can no longer carry the NGO's certification.The alliance - one of the major certification bodies for sustainable development products - said it had launched an investigation after a BBC documentary in February highlighted claims of widespread sexual abuse on tea estates in Kenya, one of the world's biggest tea exporters.More than 70 women had told the BBC that they had been sexually abused by their supervisors for years."For both tea estates, the audits confirmed the presence of non-conformities of the social and management criteria of the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard," the alliance said in a statement announcing the suspension of its certification for the two companies.The decision - initially effective for three months - means the companies cannot sell or ship products with a Rainforest Alliance Certified claim."The Rainforest Alliance remains committed to doing its part to help stop sexual harassment and gender-based violence in global supply chains. The safety and well-being of women - and of all workers - is an integral part of our certification programme and our mission at large."Kenyan prosecutors and lawmakers had said in February they would be investigating the accusations but no judicial action has been taken.-Fin24Setback for Absa in bid to block Sipho PityanaThe North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has dismissed Absa's application to block Sipho Pityana from accessing the record of decision regarding his dismissal from the bank's board.Pityana, in a notice of motion regarding a legal review of his dismissal by Absa in November 2021, called upon the bank to dispatch a record of decision, in terms of Rule 53. Absa, in turn, lodged a legal application to declare using Rule 53 to review the board's decision an "irregular step" and for the application to be set aside.In the judgment, delivered on 10 May the court noted that Absa claimed the record is "confidential or privileged." However, the bank still failed to make a case, the court found.This dismissal paves the way for Pityana to approach the court to compel Absa to hand over relevant documents."The court decided that my application was appropriate to request the information," Pityana told News24 on Sunday. Pityana said that the record of decision is necessary for the review application."I and the court, have to have a copy of that, so that I can make my submission and say, 'These are the things about their decision that I am objecting to'. I cannot present that without the benefit of the record," he said.In response to questions, Absa said it is considering the judgment relating to the applicability of Rule 53.-Fin24Dis-Chem CEO steps downPharmaceutical retailer Dis-Chem's Ivan Saltzman is stepping down as CEO at the end of June after more than four decades at the helm.The JSE-listed retailer said on Monday that Saltzman, who founded the company in 1978 with his wife Lynette in 1978, will exit the top position at the end of June, but remain on board as an executive director and "an active member of the executive management team".CFO Rui Morais, who was first announced as Saltzman's successor by the group in August 2021, will assume the CEO position from July 1. Morais has worked for the group for more than a decade.The company, which also released a full-year trading update that showed it had delivered double-digit earnings growth, said Julia Pope, who is currently the executive head of finance, and will take over as CFO.Saltzman said in a statement that accompanied the update that over the course of the past 45 years he and his wife had "grown the business from a single store to what is today, the largest retail pharmacy chain by market share in South Africa with a network of over 300 retail stores and over 20,000 staff".He said he was confident in, and supportive of the future leadership of the group, who share the "same commitment to the brand fundamentals that Lynette and I do".-Fin24Ascendis puts subsidiary into business rescueAscendis Health said it has placed one of its most important subsidiaries into business as it seeks relief amid an ongoing dispute with the South African Revenue Service (SARS).The group had raised a R67 million provision to fully cover its potential liability of its Surgical Innovations business, which distributes life-saving surgical and acute care medical equipment and consumables, during its six months to end-December. It said on Friday despite a formal objection it had been found liable for the full amount, which was payable "short order".The provision was related to value added tax for the 2018 to 2020 tax period."This approach from SARS, together with the actions of another non-operational creditor, has placed significant financial strain on the business to the extent where the board of directors of Surgical Innovations has had no alternative but to resolve to voluntarily business rescue proceedings," Ascendis said.Daniel Terblanche from DT Consult RSA has been appointed as the business rescue practitioner, with the board of the division confident it will emerge from business rescue. Surgical Innovations had a "a multi-period history of double-digit revenue growth, a defensible business model and a leading portfolio of products", the group said."The business rescue process will provide Surgical Innovations with a temporary reprieve to resolve these disputes with SARS and the non-operational creditor and will enable the operational business to continue functioning without any significant disruption," it said.-Fin24Competition watchdog wants LIFT owner outThe Competition Commission wants Global Aviation, the operator of low-cost airline LIFT, to leave the Takatso consortium before it acquires a majority of SA Airways (SAA).The commission said in a statement it found that if the merger went ahead with Global Aviation and Syranix - which co-owns the LIFT trademark, as minority shareholders of Takatso - the SAA deal would decrease competition in the domestic passenger airlines market."Takatso will have access to SAA’s competitively sensitive information by virtue of its majority stake in SAA, pursuant to the proposed merger. This concern is further exacerbated by the fact that the domestic passenger airlines market is highly concentrated, barriers to entry are high and is amendable to coordinated effects," the commission said. "To remedy this concern, the commission and the parties have now agreed to a divestiture condition in terms of which Global Aviation and Syranix will completely divest from Takatso prior to the merger’s implementation."But LIFT co-founder Gidon Novick told News24 on Saturday that there had been no agreement to sell the minority stake."If our skills are no longer required we would remain as minority shareholders without board representation and with no access to any competitively sensitive information," he said.-Fin24Musk reveals Twitter’s new CEOFormer NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino will become Twitter’s new CEO, current chief executive Elon Musk said on Friday in a tweet."I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Musk said. "@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology."Yaccarino modernised the Comcast Corp entertainment and media division’s advertising business and had been in talks for the job before NBC announced her departure Friday morning.Since Musk acquired Twitter in October, advertisers have fled the platform, worried that their ads could appear next to inappropriate content after the company lost nearly 80 percent of staff. Musk earlier this year acknowledged that Twitter suffered a massive decline in ad revenue.Twitter’s "trajectory will immediately take a 180-degree turn" under her leadership, said Lou Paskalis, a long-time ad industry executive and CEO of AJL Advisory, a marketing consultancy.Musk axed thousands of employees, rushed the launch of a subscription product that allowed scammers to impersonate major brands and suspended users with whom he disagreed."I think (Yaccarino) has climbed every mountain she could at NBCU and did it impeccably well. And there’s no greater challenge than restoring order at Twitter," he said.-Fin24

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