Company news in brief
SAA lost over R10bn in past 2 years
Struggling state-owned airline South African Airways (SAA) lost more than R10.4 billion in the past two financial years, documents sent to lawmakers and seen by Reuters showed.
SAA, which has not made a profit since 2011 and is dependent on government bailouts to remain solvent, suffered a crippling strike last month which pushed it to the brink of collapse.
The airline has not publicly published its financial reports for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years and has suffered concerns about whether it will be able to continue operations for at least 12 months.
But a copy of an SAA financial report for the year ending in March 2018 showed a R5.4 billion loss, with the company's liabilities exceeding its assets by around R13 billion.
A separate presentation showed that SAA had made a loss of more than R5 billion in the year ending March 2019. Both documents were sent to lawmakers on parliament's standing committee on public accounts. – Nampa/Reuters
Vodacom, MTN ordered to cut data prices
South Africa's Vodacom and MTN could face prosecution if they do not agree to cut data prices in the next two months, the country's competition watchdog said on Monday.
Shares in Vodacom closed down 5% at R115.07, a three-month low, while MTN was 6.4% lower at R90.40, its weakest in nearly nine months. Smaller mobile rival Telkom's shares dropped 4.2% to R44.93.
Competition commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele told reporters that a data services inquiry launched in August 2017 had shown prices charged by Vodacom and MTN were higher in South Africa than in other African markets in which they were operating.
The same was true when comparing local data costs with those outside Africa, Bonakele said.
Vodacom and MTN have argued that such comparisons are uninformative because cost and quality differences across countries, including spectrum allocations, may account for the differences in pricing, the watchdog's report read.
The inquiry was launched in response to a request from the minister of economic development, and after complaints from consumers about high data costs. – Nampa/Reuters
BP, Bunge complete Brazil deal
British oil major BP Plc and US commodities trader Bunge Ltd announced on Monday the completion of a deal to combine their sugar and ethanol operations in Brazil, creating the world's second largest cane processor.
The 50-50 joint venture BP Bunge Bioenergia, which will manage 11 plants in five Brazilian states with a total capacity to crush 32 million tonnes of sugarcane per year, will rank only behind Raízen, the joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Brazilian energy group Cosan SA.
The completion of the deal means BP and Bunge obtained all the regulatory approvals needed. It allows both companies to put together staff and start to plan jointly for the next Brazilian sugarcane season that starts in April.
Bunge will receive cash proceeds of US$775 million in the deal, of which US$700 million is Bunge's debt that will be assumed by the JV.
The new JV has a clear focus on ethanol, as demand for the biofuel in Brazil has grown for the last two years and a new federal programme to boost biofuels use kicks off next year. – Nampa/Reuters
Nomura will speed up structural reforms
Nomura Holdings Inc will speed up structural reforms, the incoming chief executive of Japan's biggest brokerage said yesterday, adding there was no guarantee a top player in the financial industry today could stay in that position in future.
"I have a sense of crisis over whether today's main players in the financial industry can remain so down the road," co-chief operating officer Kentaro Okuda told a gathering of investors, a day after he was named to succeed CEO Koji Nagai. – Nampa/Reuters
Huawei to shift research centre from US
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd plans to shift its research centre to Canada from the United States, Ren Zhengfei, the founder of the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, said in an interview with Canada's Globe and Mail.
Ren's remarks came as Reuters reported on Friday that the United States is weighing expanding its power to stop more foreign shipments of products with US technology to Huawei.
The US Commerce Department in May placed Huawei on a trade blacklist, citing national security concerns.
Huawei's "centre for research and development will be moved out of the United States. And that will be relocated to Canada," Ren said, adding that the company will also manufacture some mobile network equipment outside China.
The Huawei founder wants to build new factory capacity in Europe to make fifth-generation (5G) networking equipment there, hoping to assuage fears stemming from US allegations that its product could be used by China for spying, the Globe and Mail reported. – Nampa/Reuters
Struggling state-owned airline South African Airways (SAA) lost more than R10.4 billion in the past two financial years, documents sent to lawmakers and seen by Reuters showed.
SAA, which has not made a profit since 2011 and is dependent on government bailouts to remain solvent, suffered a crippling strike last month which pushed it to the brink of collapse.
The airline has not publicly published its financial reports for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years and has suffered concerns about whether it will be able to continue operations for at least 12 months.
But a copy of an SAA financial report for the year ending in March 2018 showed a R5.4 billion loss, with the company's liabilities exceeding its assets by around R13 billion.
A separate presentation showed that SAA had made a loss of more than R5 billion in the year ending March 2019. Both documents were sent to lawmakers on parliament's standing committee on public accounts. – Nampa/Reuters
Vodacom, MTN ordered to cut data prices
South Africa's Vodacom and MTN could face prosecution if they do not agree to cut data prices in the next two months, the country's competition watchdog said on Monday.
Shares in Vodacom closed down 5% at R115.07, a three-month low, while MTN was 6.4% lower at R90.40, its weakest in nearly nine months. Smaller mobile rival Telkom's shares dropped 4.2% to R44.93.
Competition commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele told reporters that a data services inquiry launched in August 2017 had shown prices charged by Vodacom and MTN were higher in South Africa than in other African markets in which they were operating.
The same was true when comparing local data costs with those outside Africa, Bonakele said.
Vodacom and MTN have argued that such comparisons are uninformative because cost and quality differences across countries, including spectrum allocations, may account for the differences in pricing, the watchdog's report read.
The inquiry was launched in response to a request from the minister of economic development, and after complaints from consumers about high data costs. – Nampa/Reuters
BP, Bunge complete Brazil deal
British oil major BP Plc and US commodities trader Bunge Ltd announced on Monday the completion of a deal to combine their sugar and ethanol operations in Brazil, creating the world's second largest cane processor.
The 50-50 joint venture BP Bunge Bioenergia, which will manage 11 plants in five Brazilian states with a total capacity to crush 32 million tonnes of sugarcane per year, will rank only behind Raízen, the joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Brazilian energy group Cosan SA.
The completion of the deal means BP and Bunge obtained all the regulatory approvals needed. It allows both companies to put together staff and start to plan jointly for the next Brazilian sugarcane season that starts in April.
Bunge will receive cash proceeds of US$775 million in the deal, of which US$700 million is Bunge's debt that will be assumed by the JV.
The new JV has a clear focus on ethanol, as demand for the biofuel in Brazil has grown for the last two years and a new federal programme to boost biofuels use kicks off next year. – Nampa/Reuters
Nomura will speed up structural reforms
Nomura Holdings Inc will speed up structural reforms, the incoming chief executive of Japan's biggest brokerage said yesterday, adding there was no guarantee a top player in the financial industry today could stay in that position in future.
"I have a sense of crisis over whether today's main players in the financial industry can remain so down the road," co-chief operating officer Kentaro Okuda told a gathering of investors, a day after he was named to succeed CEO Koji Nagai. – Nampa/Reuters
Huawei to shift research centre from US
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd plans to shift its research centre to Canada from the United States, Ren Zhengfei, the founder of the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, said in an interview with Canada's Globe and Mail.
Ren's remarks came as Reuters reported on Friday that the United States is weighing expanding its power to stop more foreign shipments of products with US technology to Huawei.
The US Commerce Department in May placed Huawei on a trade blacklist, citing national security concerns.
Huawei's "centre for research and development will be moved out of the United States. And that will be relocated to Canada," Ren said, adding that the company will also manufacture some mobile network equipment outside China.
The Huawei founder wants to build new factory capacity in Europe to make fifth-generation (5G) networking equipment there, hoping to assuage fears stemming from US allegations that its product could be used by China for spying, the Globe and Mail reported. – Nampa/Reuters
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