Company news in brief

Seven-Up delisted in Nigeria

The Nigerian bourse has approved the voluntary delisting of Seven-Up Bottling Co. after it received a takeover bid from its majority shareholder aimed at restructuring the soft drinks bottler.

In January, Seven-Up's minority shareholders backed a US$70 million buyout bid by majority investor Affelka, the investment firm of the Lebanese El-Khalil family.

The bottler received the takeover proposal last August after posting losses, in a deal aimed at restructuring the Seven-Up, Pepsi and Mirinda distributor.

The soft drinks bottling industry has been hit by slow demand arising from weak economic growth in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, which recently emerged from a recession and a currency crisis that stifled raw material imports.

The Seven-Up Bottling takeover comes six years after its main rival Coca-Cola delisted its local bottling unit in a US$136 million buyout deal to expand the business and fend off competition.

– Nampa/Reuters



Dubai exchange explores options

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) said on Monday it was working with Indian counterparts to explore alternatives after India's three main stock markets announced they would stop licensing their indexes and securities abroad.

India's decision appears to threaten several products offered by the DGCX, which trades futures based on the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index; futures based on single Indian stocks; and Indian rupee and US dollar-based futures for an Indian index compiled using methodology from MSCI.

The United Arab Emirates and the Gulf have large populations of Indian expatriates, and India-related contracts have been a major reason for growth in the DGCX's business over recent months.

The exchange reported earlier that last month was its best January ever for trading volumes and value, with volume across its business surging 40% from a year earlier to 1.91 million lots valued at US$47 billion.

The main drivers of the growth were the Indian rupee, other currency pairs, Indian single stock futures and Sensex futures, it said.

– Nampa/Reuters



Bank of Baroda exists SA in March

The South African unit of India's Bank of Baroda will stop operating in South Africa at the end of March as part of its strategic plan to rationalise the branches in international markets, the lender said on Monday.

The local branch will stop taking new deposits and disbursing loans with effect from March 1, and cease to operate and conduct the business of a bank in South Africa from March 31, it said in a statement.

– Nampa/Reuters



Harmony Gold's H1 profit rises

South African miner Harmony Gold's half-year profit rose 49%, boosted by improved performance at its South African operations, the firm said yesterday.

Headline earnings per share (HEPS), the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items, rose to R2.24 per share for the six months ended December 31, 2017 from R1.50 per share in the previous period.

The group, which has operations in South Africa and Papua New Guinea, saw gold production for the half-year period tick up to 560 003 ounces compared to 553 862 ounces in the previous period.

Gold production from its South African operations was up 6% at 538 719 ounces.

– Nampa/Reuters



ArcelorMittal, VTB bid for Essar Steel

ArcelorMittal SA and a group led by Russia's VTB have made separate bids for India's Essar Steel, which is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings and faces claims of nearly US$8 billion.

ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, has offered a “detailed industrial plan” for Essar Steel aimed at improving its performance and profitability, it said in a statement on Monday after the bidding deadline.

The group Numetal, which said it is led by VTB, has submitted a bid for Essar Steel, it said in a statement.

Essar Steel was among a dozen of India's biggest debt defaulters that were pushed to bankruptcy court last year after a central bank order aimed at clearing a US$147 billion bad loan mountain at the nation's banks that is choking new lending.

For ArcelorMittal, which has long sought to build its own plant in India, Essar provides “a compelling opportunity”, the European steelmaker's Indian-born chief Lakshmi Mittal said in the statement.

– Nampa/Reuters