Company news in brief

MTN faces 5G headwinds

South Africa's telecoms regulator said on Friday it will challenge a court application by MTN Group seeking to review or scrap the regulator's auction process for awarding spectrum vital for rolling out 5G technology.

MTN is the latest mobile operator to take the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to court. Smaller rival Telkom went to court in December to halt the sale, a move ICASA says it will also challenge.

Operators have been waiting more than a decade for ICASA to release new spectrum licences seen as vital to attract new investment and help lower costs for operators and users.

MTN is challenging ICASA's decision to put operators in two categories, putting MTN and rival Vodacom in Tier 1 and Telkom, Cell C and others in Tier 2, according to court papers filed on Wednesday.

Under this classification, MTN says Tier 1 operators would be excluded from an opt-in auction round, undermining their ability to secure access to the 3.5GHz radio frequency spectrum band seen as vital to their rollout of 5G technology. – Nampa/Reuters

Spur sales slump on Covid restrictions

South Africa's Spur Corporation said on Friday half-year total franchised restaurant sales dropped 29.5% due to Covid-19 trading restrictions and lower consumer disposable incomes.

The restaurant sector has been one of the hardest hit industries in South Africa as lockdown restrictions, curfews, cuts in seating capacity and a ban on the sale of alcohol have hammered profits, pushing some out of business.

Spur's total sales fell to R2.9 billion for the six months ended Dec. 31 from R4.1 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Sales from franchised restaurants declined by 31% in South Africa and by 17.3% in international restaurants in rand terms, the owner of the RocoMamas burger chain and Spur Steak Ranches said.

In December the South African government re-imposed some lockdown restrictions such as the ban on alcohol sales, longer night curfew hours and the closure of beaches.

This impacted Spur's December sales, which declined by 25.8% in South Africa compared with a year earlier. – Nampa/Reuters

Debswana diamond exports fall 30%

Exports of rough diamonds mined by the Debswana Diamond Company fell 30% in 2020, statistics released by the Bank of Botswana showed Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic hit demand and global travel restrictions impacted trading.

Debswana, a joint venture between Anglo American unit De Beers and the Botswana government, produces almost all of the southern African nation's diamonds. Lucara’s Karowe mine is the only other operating diamond mine in the country.

According to the central bank data, diamond exports from Debswana fell to US$2.02 billion in 2020 from US$3.05 billion in 2019. Quarterly drops of 63% and 66% were recorded in the second and third quarters respectively.

Sales picked up in the fourth quarter, when exports climbed 35% compared to the same period in 2019.

Botswana gets about 30% of its revenues from diamond sales, via its partnership with De Beers. – Nampa/Reuters

East African Breweries sees recovery

East African Breweries expects sales to recover from a coronavirus-induced slump in its second half to June, its outgoing chief executive said, as nations in the region relax measures to curb the spread of the virus.

The brewer, which is controlled by Britain's Diageo Plc, posted on Thursday a 3% drop in net sales for its first half to end December as sales were pummelled by the closure of bars. Post-tax profit plunged by a third.

Net sales will start to grow again, Andrew Cowan, EABL's outgoing chief executive, told a virtual investor briefing on Friday.

The company, which dominates the regional alcohol market with Tusker beer and Johnny Walker Scotch whiskey among other brands, turned to electronic commerce last year to prop up sales.

EABL, which operates in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, posted strong sales growth in Tanzania and Uganda in the first half, helping to offset a steep drop in Kenya, which accounts for two-thirds of sales. – Nampa/Reuters

Airtel Africa to focus on current markets

Airtel Africa will focus on growing in the markets where it already operates on the continent and will not bid for licences in Ethiopia, where the nation of 110 million people is opening up its telecoms sector, the company's CEO said on Friday.

Africa's second most populous nation, one of the last remaining closed telecoms markets on the continent, plans to sell a minority stake in state owned Ethio Telecoms within nine months and is tendering for two new licences, a process that was expected to start last month.

But Airtel Africa Plc chief executive officer Raghunath Mandava told Reuters that the Africa-focused telecoms company sees more room to grow in the 14 countries it has already invested in, including in its biggest market in Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation.

On Friday, the company, in which India's Bharti Airtel Ltd is a shareholder, said that its nine-month reported revenue increased by 13.8% to US$2.87 billion, with third quarter revenue up by 19.5%.

The company reported a slight decline in profit before tax to US$482 million in the period to Dec. 31, 2020 from $501 million in the period to Dec. 31, 2019. – Nampa/Reuters