Company News in Brief

MultiChoice warns shareholders of financial difficulties SA's biggest pay-TV operator MultiChoice, which also owns Showmax, warned shareholders that it continues to feel strain given pressure by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, compounded by elevated inflation and interest rates in many of its markets. This is likely to impact negatively on performance in the year to end March. The group has returned to a positive equity position, but capital preservation remains a key consideration in the current environment, it said, adding that shareholders should be cautious regarding their dividend expectations. -FIN24Platz am Meer up for sale Safari Investments, which owns a R4.2-billion portfolio of eight retail centres in SA and Namibia, announced a N$290-million (R290-million), with earn-out considerations, deal to sell its Nambian business, or the Platz am Meer Shopping Centre, a waterfront shopping centre in Swakopmund. This forms part of the group's strategy to exit the Namibian market and focus on rural and township areas of SA. The buyer is Namibia-listed Oryx Properties. -FIN24 Capitec founder Gerrie Fourie set to retire SA's biggest digital banker, Capitec, announced on Friday that founding member and CEO Gerrie Fourie is set to retire at the group's upcoming AGM on 18 July. Fourie (61) has overseen the rapid rise of a bank, which has transformed from a challenger bank serving 5 million in 2014, when he was appointed as chief executive, to over 24 million. The group also announced that it has appointed Graham Lee (50), who has been a member of the group executive team since 2022. Lee joined Capitec in 2003 and has held numerous strategic positions in credit, technology and data, retail operations, and most recently, as group executive of the retail bank division. He started his career in investment banking in Zimbabwe in 1997 before continuing in London with Morgan Stanley International. His career outside of Capitec includes financial software development and data analytics in Australia and leading a micro-finance bank in Nigeria. He also lectured part-time for the MBA programme of the University of Stellenbosch Business School.Telkom anticipates 10% profit hike SA's third-largest mobile operator, Telkom, said on Friday headline earnings are expected to rise by at least 10% in its year to end March from 376c, while basic earnings, which include one-off items, are expected to surge by at least 300% from 385.5c. Telkom, which booked a profit of almost R1.9 billion in its 2024 year, closed out the sale of Swiftnet on 27 March. It first announced the sale of announced the sale of approximately 4 000 towers and masts early in 2024, a move which comes as it looks to focus on its core operations. The group is currently pushing a new digital strategy with "infrastructure at its core," and has said previously it sees a competitive advantage in its fibre and data offerings. It didn't go into details in its initial trading statement on Friday. I had said in February it had a strong third quarter, which saw a jump in its mobile subscribers by over a fifth to about 24 million - outperforming the local market.Ubisoft to create subsidiary In a bid to escape financial woes, French games giant Ubisoft said Thursday it was creating a new subsidiary around its most popular franchises such as "Assassin's Creed" in partnership with China's Tencent. The new unit, valued at around €4 billion (R78 billion), will be 25% controlled by Tencent, which will stump up €1.16 billion of new investment in exchange. Alongside "Assassin's Creed", the subsidiary will bring together "Far Cry" and "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six" - among the most popular long-running names in Ubisoft's roster of game universes. Ubisoft appears to be making the most of last week's successful launch of the latest "Assassin's Creed" instalment, "Shadows", on which much of its future was riding.Conditions for the Tencent deal include a bar on the French company losing its majority in the subsidiary for its first two years. Tencent cannot increase its stake for the next five years - unless Ubisoft loses its majority in the meantime. - AFPSMIC being probed by Taiwanese authorities Taiwan said Friday it was probing Chinese chip titan Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) and other companies amid claims they illegally poached some of the island's top engineers. Officials searched 34 locations and questioned 90 people this month as part of an investigation into 11 Chinese firms, Taiwan's Investigation Bureau said. "The high-tech industry is the lifeblood of our country's economy, and companies with semiconductor technology and related industrial chains maintain our economic strength," the bureau said in a statement. "Talents in related industries have therefore become the targets of poaching by Chinese firms." Shanghai-based SMIC was suspected of "illegal acts" in northern Hsinchu, home to an industrial park dubbed Taiwan's Silicon Valley, the bureau said. "The company used a Samoan business as a cover to come to Taiwan to set up a branch (or branches) and poached talents under the guise of an 'overseas Chinese and foreign investor'," the bureau added without providing further details. Investigators were also looking into other chip firms including Shenzhen Torey Microelectronics Technology Co. and Clounix. - AFP

Company News in Brief

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