Company news in brief
Diamond industry regains balance
Diamond miner De Beers announced that sales in its tenth cycle for 2023 climbed to US$130 million (R2.4 billion) relative to the ninth, but it was still down from US$417 million in the tenth sales cycle of 2022.
"De Beers continued to offer lower levels of rough diamond supply, in line with current demand," CEO Al Cook said in a statement.
"As the end-of-year holiday season progresses, we are seeing signs that the diamond industry is regaining its balance between wholesale supply and demand. Polished diamond prices look to have stabilised as inventory levels have decreased, though we expect improvements in rough diamond trading conditions to be gradual." – Fin24
Moody’s downgrades Telkom
South Africa's third-biggest mobile operator Telkom said ratings agency Moody's has affirmed its corporate family rating, but downgraded its national scale rating (NSR) to Aa2 from Aa1.
The outlook on all ratings remains stable.
This reflects Moody's expectation that Telkom's credit metrics will recover over the next 12-18 months to levels that the agency deems adequate for its Ba2 rating, Moody's said in a statement.
At the same time, the downgrade of the national scale rating reflects that Telkom's rating is now weakly positioned at the Ba2 rating level, particularly compared to other Ba2-rated South African companies.
The long-term NSRs are opinions of the relative creditworthiness of issuers and financial obligations within a particular country. The Aa rating is the second highest rating level, after Aaa, with each having a subset of 1-3, with 2 representing a mid-range ranking. Aa ranked companies "demonstrate very strong creditworthiness relative to other domestic issuers and issuances". – Fin24
Bafokeng mineworkers back safely
Impala Platinum said on Wednesday that as of 17:05 afternoon, all 2 205 mineworkers at its Bafokeng Rasimone mine had returned to the surface.
The protest action began on Monday morning without the sanction of the representative union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Implats has said the dispute stemmed from "misunderstandings brought to the fore by the recent change in ownership at Impala Bafokeng."
"Implats is grateful the protest action concluded swiftly and without safety incidents, given it occurred in the operation's underground workings, in breach of safety regulations, and against a background of increasing incidents of a similar nature at other mining companies," the company said. – Fin24
Daihatsu to halt vehicle shipments
Toyota Motor's Daihatsu unit will halt shipments of all of its vehicles, Japan's biggest automaker said, after a safety scandal investigation found issues involving 64 models, including almost two dozen sold under Toyota's brand.
An independent panel has been investigating Daihatsu after it said in April it had rigged side-collision safety tests carried out for 88 000 small cars, most of those sold as Toyotas.
But the latest revelations suggest the scope of the scandal is far greater and went back much further than previously thought and could potentially tarnish the automakers' reputation for quality and safety.
Daihatsu is Toyota's small-car unit and produces a number of the so-called "kei" smaller cars and trucks that are popular in Japan. The latest issues also impacted some Mazda and Subaru models sold in the domestic market and Toyota and Daihatsu models overseas, the panel found.
Toyota said "fundamental reform" was needed to revitalise Daihatsu, as well as a review of certification operations. Toyota said it could not yet determine the financial impact of the matter. – Reuters
BlackBerry posts quarterly profit
Canada's BlackBerry reported a surprise quarterly profit, backed by a resilient demand for cybersecurity services amid rising online threats.
Revenue in the third quarter rose to US$175 million from US$169 million.
While IT spending has dwindled over the past year, cybersecurity-related expenditure has remained stable as businesses and governments scramble to beef up their systems against hackers.
Earlier this month, BlackBerry discarded its initial public offering plans for its Internet of Things (IoT) business, but still expects to split the IoT and Cybersecurity businesses into fully standalone divisions.
BlackBerry expects fourth-quarter revenue in the range of US$150 million to US$159 million. – Reuters
Sony highlights PS5 momentum
Sony is seeing strong momentum for its PlayStation 5 console, a senior games executive said, with lifetime sales exceeding 50 million units and the company recording its best-ever Black Friday period sales for the device.
The entertainment conglomerate is looking for a strong performance from the PS5, which is in its fourth year on the market, during the holiday shopping season to hit its sales target of a record 25 million units in the current financial year ending March 31.
Sony's games business was its largest unit by sales and the second-biggest contributor to operating profit after music in the last financial year.
PS5 sales were hampered by supply chain snarls earlier in its lifecycle. Those have eased, with it now gaining tailwinds including the Oct. 20 launch of critically acclaimed game "Marvel's Spider-Man 2".
The Japanese company, which is known for single-player games, is making a push into live-service titles, which offer continuous online play. - Reuters
Diamond miner De Beers announced that sales in its tenth cycle for 2023 climbed to US$130 million (R2.4 billion) relative to the ninth, but it was still down from US$417 million in the tenth sales cycle of 2022.
"De Beers continued to offer lower levels of rough diamond supply, in line with current demand," CEO Al Cook said in a statement.
"As the end-of-year holiday season progresses, we are seeing signs that the diamond industry is regaining its balance between wholesale supply and demand. Polished diamond prices look to have stabilised as inventory levels have decreased, though we expect improvements in rough diamond trading conditions to be gradual." – Fin24
Moody’s downgrades Telkom
South Africa's third-biggest mobile operator Telkom said ratings agency Moody's has affirmed its corporate family rating, but downgraded its national scale rating (NSR) to Aa2 from Aa1.
The outlook on all ratings remains stable.
This reflects Moody's expectation that Telkom's credit metrics will recover over the next 12-18 months to levels that the agency deems adequate for its Ba2 rating, Moody's said in a statement.
At the same time, the downgrade of the national scale rating reflects that Telkom's rating is now weakly positioned at the Ba2 rating level, particularly compared to other Ba2-rated South African companies.
The long-term NSRs are opinions of the relative creditworthiness of issuers and financial obligations within a particular country. The Aa rating is the second highest rating level, after Aaa, with each having a subset of 1-3, with 2 representing a mid-range ranking. Aa ranked companies "demonstrate very strong creditworthiness relative to other domestic issuers and issuances". – Fin24
Bafokeng mineworkers back safely
Impala Platinum said on Wednesday that as of 17:05 afternoon, all 2 205 mineworkers at its Bafokeng Rasimone mine had returned to the surface.
The protest action began on Monday morning without the sanction of the representative union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Implats has said the dispute stemmed from "misunderstandings brought to the fore by the recent change in ownership at Impala Bafokeng."
"Implats is grateful the protest action concluded swiftly and without safety incidents, given it occurred in the operation's underground workings, in breach of safety regulations, and against a background of increasing incidents of a similar nature at other mining companies," the company said. – Fin24
Daihatsu to halt vehicle shipments
Toyota Motor's Daihatsu unit will halt shipments of all of its vehicles, Japan's biggest automaker said, after a safety scandal investigation found issues involving 64 models, including almost two dozen sold under Toyota's brand.
An independent panel has been investigating Daihatsu after it said in April it had rigged side-collision safety tests carried out for 88 000 small cars, most of those sold as Toyotas.
But the latest revelations suggest the scope of the scandal is far greater and went back much further than previously thought and could potentially tarnish the automakers' reputation for quality and safety.
Daihatsu is Toyota's small-car unit and produces a number of the so-called "kei" smaller cars and trucks that are popular in Japan. The latest issues also impacted some Mazda and Subaru models sold in the domestic market and Toyota and Daihatsu models overseas, the panel found.
Toyota said "fundamental reform" was needed to revitalise Daihatsu, as well as a review of certification operations. Toyota said it could not yet determine the financial impact of the matter. – Reuters
BlackBerry posts quarterly profit
Canada's BlackBerry reported a surprise quarterly profit, backed by a resilient demand for cybersecurity services amid rising online threats.
Revenue in the third quarter rose to US$175 million from US$169 million.
While IT spending has dwindled over the past year, cybersecurity-related expenditure has remained stable as businesses and governments scramble to beef up their systems against hackers.
Earlier this month, BlackBerry discarded its initial public offering plans for its Internet of Things (IoT) business, but still expects to split the IoT and Cybersecurity businesses into fully standalone divisions.
BlackBerry expects fourth-quarter revenue in the range of US$150 million to US$159 million. – Reuters
Sony highlights PS5 momentum
Sony is seeing strong momentum for its PlayStation 5 console, a senior games executive said, with lifetime sales exceeding 50 million units and the company recording its best-ever Black Friday period sales for the device.
The entertainment conglomerate is looking for a strong performance from the PS5, which is in its fourth year on the market, during the holiday shopping season to hit its sales target of a record 25 million units in the current financial year ending March 31.
Sony's games business was its largest unit by sales and the second-biggest contributor to operating profit after music in the last financial year.
PS5 sales were hampered by supply chain snarls earlier in its lifecycle. Those have eased, with it now gaining tailwinds including the Oct. 20 launch of critically acclaimed game "Marvel's Spider-Man 2".
The Japanese company, which is known for single-player games, is making a push into live-service titles, which offer continuous online play. - Reuters
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