Company news in brief

Eskom needs billions for emissions laws

South Africa's power utility Eskom needs around R187 billion to comply fully with existing legislation curbing harmful emissions, a government presentation to parliament showed on Wednesday.

Eskom, which uses mainly coal-fired power plants to generate electricity, was one of 37 top domestic polluters, including Sasol, granted a five-year reprieve by government until 2020 to meet air emission standards.

The new minimum emissions standards for air quality laws in South Africa, which cover particulate, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, came into effect on 1 April 2015.

Eskom has applied to the department of environmental affairs for rolling postponements of its obligations under the legislation to meet the emissions and air standards.

Africa's biggest public utility supplies over 90% of South Africa's electricity, relying largely on ageing, heavily polluting coal-fired power stations but does not generate enough cash to meet its debt servicing costs. – Nampa/Reuters

IP theft from Denel investigated

South Africa is investigating the alleged misappropriation of intellectual property rights belonging to state defence firm Denel, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) confirmed on Wednesday.

The IP relates to air-to-air missiles, stand-off weapons, surface target missiles, air defence and unmanned aerial vehicle systems, the SIU told Reuters.

"The focus area for the investigation in question is unlawful, irregular or unapproved measures or practices in relation to the misappropriation of proprietary and intellectual property rights," SIU said.

Denel employees are alleged to have inappropriately passed information to Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) during talks over a potential partnership, The City Press newspaper reported.

South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the SIU inquiry last month, according to a proclamation published in the official government gazette. – Nampa/Reuters

Tsogo Sun Gaming's earnings hit

South African casino operator Tsogo Sun Gaming reported lower adjusted headline earnings per share yesterday, hurt by higher finance costs.

Adjusted headline earnings per share was 68.4 cents for the six months ended Sept. 30, compared to 78.8 cents last year.

Tsogo Sun Gaming said it has been focusing on cutting costs and improving operational efficiency at its head office and casinos, and the actions will be bear fruit in the next financial year.

First-half total income rose 5% to R6 billion from growth in its gaming, food and hotel room businesses.

Tsogo Sun Hotels, which was spun out from Tsogo Sun earlier this year, reported first-half headline earnings per share of 5.2 cents in a separate announcement. – Nampa/Reuters

Life Healthcare plans Poland exit

South Africa's Life Healthcare said it expects earnings to rise more than 20% for the first half of 2020, over the same period last year, and was considering plans to exit its Polish operations after taking an R125 million impairment charge in the year.

The private hospital operator said yesterday it expects headline earnings per share for the six months ending March 31, 2020 to increase by a minimum of 5.4 cents per share to at least 32.3 cents per share.

In Poland, regulatory changes affected minimum employments costs and resulted in an impairment in the value of its Polish investment of R125 million.

However, the company said normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to R5.73 billion for year ended Sept. 30 from R5.54 billion last year. Revenue for the year grew 9.3% to R25.67 billion, chiefly helped by growth in PET-CT scan volumes in the UK. – Nampa/Reuters

Continental to cut 5 040 jobs

German auto supplier Continental on Wednesday said it would pare back its engine manufacturing activities as more stringent emissions rules threaten demand for combustion engine components, resulting in around 5 040 job losses by 2028.

The global auto supplier, which employs more than 240 000 staff, has suffered from a global downturn in demand for passenger cars and a shift away from gasoline and diesel toward battery-powered vehicles.

Continental said around 520 jobs will be lost when a site in Roding, Germany - which makes hydraulic components for petrol and diesel engines - is closed down in 2024.

Another 850 jobs are under threat in Limbach-Oberfrohna, Germany once manufacturing of diesel injection components ends in 2028, and a further 2 200 jobs in Babenhausen, Germany are under threat, Continental said. – Nampa/Reuters