Company News in Brief

Lewis points to turnaround for consumers as cash sales receive a boostSA's largest furniture retailer, Lewis Group, reported a cash sales boost in an update on Monday. This suggested a turnaround in the fortunes of consumers, who now seem to have more disposable cash on hand. Analysts also thought the introduction of the two-pot retirement system may have also contributed to the cash sales increase. Shares in SA's largest furniture retailer, Lewis Group, surged nearly 5% as it flagged a significant increase in cash sales on Monday, suggesting a turnaround in the fortunes of consumers, who seem to have more disposable cash.The group - which owns the Beares, UFO and Best Home and Electric brands - said in an update that cash sales showed a strong turnaround in the quarter to December 2024 with all three months reporting a double-digit growth. This resulted in an overall increase of 14.4% for the quarter and 1.5% for the financial year to date.Apart from consumers seemingly being in a better financial position, market analysts explained the strong cash sales could also be due in part to the introduction of the two-pot retirement system in SA last year, which freed up more money for South Africans to spend on retail.Shares in Lewis rose 4.7% to R78.49 by 11:20, and are up 89% over the past one year.-FIN24 JSE-listed property firm has R7bn to make deals - but it's waiting to Trump-proof investmentsJSE- and London Stock Exchange-listed Sirius Real Estate potentially has €350 million (about R6.7 billion) in firepower for acquisitions in the UK and Germany for 2025, but is holding back until at least next Friday before greenlighting anything to effectively Trump-proof itself.Speaking at a presentation to celebrate Sirius' 10 years of being listed on the JSE on Thursday, CEO Andrew Coombs said it already had four acquisitions valued at €114.4 million in its sights. However, the UK and Germany business and industrial park owner, which had "exclusivity" agreements in place for these transactions, had decided to delay finalising them to see exactly what new US President Donald Trump does in the first two weeks of his presidency. The game plan was to establish if there are any negative potential effects on its properties in countries such as Germany. The initial transactions included four light industrial properties in Germany and the UK (two in each of them).-FIN24 Shareholder launches winding-up bid for Iqbal Survé-linked AYOIqbal Survé-linked AYO Technologies is facing an application to have it wound up, filed by the son of a deceased minority shareholder.On Friday, AYO announced on the JSE’s stock exchange news service that it would oppose the application."The board of directors of the company is confident in AYO's position to oppose the application and believes that it will successfully defend the matter in the appropriate legal forum," AYO said in the SENS statement. "The board is carefully traversing the legal and operational implications of the application and will take all necessary steps, in consultation with its advisors, to safeguard the interests of the company, together with its stakeholders and shareholders."-FIN24 Airport fuel crisis: Mantashe insists sidelined PetroSA must intervenePetroSA will help with supply of jet fuel to OR Tambo amid concerns of a shortage. Minister Gwede Mantashe said this is despite the fact that PetroSA had not been awarded supply contracts with large airports.The Airports Company SA, meanwhile, has said alternative supply will be imported through Durban.For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.PetroSA will assist with the supply of jet fuel to OR Tambo International Airport (ORT) amid concerns of shortages following a fire at the Natref refinery, Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe has said.This is despite the fact that the troubled state-owned entity has not been awarded supply deals with large airports such as OR Tambo, he said."PetroSA has not folded its arms. It is intervening to supply jet fuel in the interim to actually ensure that there is no collapse of jet fuel supply," Mantashe said during a briefing on Thursday.He, however, highlighted that "if [PetroSA] is not allowed to do business normally and supply jet fuel to major airports, it cannot be expected to supply jet fuel when there is a crisis".Concerns have mounted over potential fuel shortages at OR Tambo after a fire earlier this month caused damage to the Natref refinery, an inland facility in which Sasol is the majority shareholder. Natref typically supplies about 72% of OR Tambo’s fuel requirements.-FIN24 Trump moves likely to hike prices in SA, warns FirstRand CEOTariffs proposed by US President Donald Trump will likely stoke prices in South Africa should they go ahead, according to the chief executive officers of two of its largest banks.The newly inaugurated leader's moves will likely cause the dollar to strengthen, which will also hurt African nations carrying higher debt loads, FirstRand CEO Mary Vilakazi said in a Bloomberg Television interview."We worry about the inflationary impact that the tariffs and the other policies that I think are going to be driven by the US," Vilakazi said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We still have to watch the execution of what Trump says. One has to ensure we don't completely get ahead of ourselves."Trump has repeatedly wielded tariffs as a threat against friends and adversaries, though this week said he'd prefer not to levy duties on goods from the Asian nation. The US is currently South Africa's largest trading partner after China.Tariffs would strengthen the dollar in the short term, accelerate price growth and keep interest rates higher for longer, Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala told CNBC in Davos."It's going to have a negative impact on African currencies, it's going to put pressure on Africans, but it's too early to tell what the exact magnitude of that is going to be," he said.South Africa could escape the worst of the fallout thanks to the decisions by a so-called government of national unity — set up after last year's elections failed to produce an outright winner — to implement structural reforms to lift gross domestic product growth, Vilakazi said.So far, those changes have stabilized the nation's electricity supply and are starting to improve the logistics sector, whose collapse saw coal exports plunge to a three-decade low."The government of national unity has its own vulnerabilities, but I think beyond what plays out in public, there is a real commitment to make sure things work," she said. "Business is rallying behind and supporting the government's agenda."FirstRand plans to increase its investments in South Africa to tap into the "significant projects" that are on the way, Vilakazi said."The need for lending to help the economy is quite significant," she said. "If one looked out three to five years' time, I think the South African economy would have recovered."South Africa's economic growth is set to accelerate in 2025, halting more than a decade of tepid growth. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect growth of 1.7% this year, compared with 0.7% estimated for 2024 and less than 1% on average in the prior 10 years.Standard Bank's Tshabalala said improvements in output are achievable."We are working hammer and tongs in partnership with the government to try and get to GDP growth of above 3% for this year, and we believe it's doable," Tshabalala said.-FIN24

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