COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Eskom probes CEO over racism allegations

South Africa's troubled power utility Eskom on Tuesday announced it would launch an independent investigation into allegations of racism levelled against its chief executive who was appointed last year.

In a recent address to lawmakers, a suspended senior company official accused Andre de Ruyter of side-lining black suppliers.

Thereafter, the struggling utility issued a statement defending its leadership, saying it "affirms its support and confidence in the executive management instilling a high-performance culture."

But in a fresh statement on Tuesday the utility's board said, "the allegation not only brings Eskom into disrepute, but it also threatens to detract and distract the focus of the executive team in particular from their critical job of restoring Eskom to operational and financial stability."

Eskom, the largest power utility on the continent, has long struggled to end outages that have hampered growth in the Africa's most industrialised country.

De Ruyter, a former packaging executive, took over embattled Eskom in January from Phakamani Hadebe who resigned citing "unimaginable demands" of the job, becoming the tenth CEO to quit the firm in a decade. - Nampa/AFP

Telecoms regulator to appeal court order

South Africa's telecoms regulator ICASA said on Tuesday it will appeal a court order restraining it from proceeding with an auction of radio frequency spectrum licences, needed to lower data costs, expand 4G capacity and roll out new 5G technology.

On Monday, High Court Judge Selby Baqwa passed an order prohibiting the regulator from going ahead with the auction pending a hearing on contentions raised by operator Telkom and broadcaster e.tv.

Monday's ruling is a major blow to the industry, especially mobile operators MTN and Vodacom, who have been forced to re-purpose their existing allocations of 2G and 3G spectrum to deploy new 4G technology in the absence of new licences.

MTN said it was reviewing the decision while Vodacom called the development "negative." Similar legal disputes halted the sale in 2016.

Operators have been waiting for more than a decade for the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to release new spectrum licences, which President Cyril Ramaphosa has said would be an important economic boost for the country by creating jobs and increasing internet penetration and competition. - Nampa/Reuters

Vodafone seeks to raise up to 2.8 bln euros

Vodafone Group said on Tuesday it would seek to raise up to 2.8 billion euros (US$3.32 billion) in proceeds by floating infrastructure unit Vantage Towers in Europe's largest initial public offering of 2021.

The UK-based operator set the price range for the flotation of Vantage Towers on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at 22.50 to 29 euros per share, implying a total market capitalisation of up to 14.7 billion euros.

That would top the valuations of a European IPO crop that has so far this year featured Polish e-commerce firm InPost, German used-car trading platform AUTO1 and British boot brand Dr. Martens.

The deal would also be the largest European telecoms IPO since that of Belgacom in 2014, and Germany's largest listing since that of Knorr Bremse in 2018, both of which raised US$4.4 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The base offer size is 2 billion euros, but there is flexibility to increase its size to 2.8 billion euros through the exercise of an "upsize" option and an over-allotment option for lead managers on the deal, Vodafone said. - Nampa/Reuters

Coffee company JDE Peet's 2020 sales fall

Coffee company JDE Peet's reported a fall of 4.2% in annual sales on Tuesday as the impact of lost sales in cafes due to the Covid-19 pandemic outweighed a boom in home-use products.

Sales of the owner of the Douwe Egberts, Peet's Coffee and Jacobs brands dipped to 6.65 billion euros (US$7.89 billion) for 2020, just below the 6.68 billion seen in a company-compiled poll of analysts.

For 2021, the company forecast organic sales growth of 3%-5% in 2021, as its away-from-home businesses recover, with a "single digit" increase in adjusted EBIT.

Reflecting the impact of the pandemic, sales of packaged coffee products usually sold in grocery stores, its largest business, rose 7% in Europe, its largest market.

CEO Fabien Simon said consumers were choosing higher-quality coffee and brands perceived as environmentally friendly or local. - Nampa/Reuters

Russia sues Google, Facebook, Twitter

Russian authorities are suing five social media platforms for allegedly failing to delete posts urging children to take part in illegal protests, the Interfax news agency cited a Moscow court as saying on Tuesday.

Twitter, Google, Facebook each have three cases against them, with each violation punishable by a fine of up to 4 million roubles (around US$54 000), and cases have also been filed against Tiktok and Telegram, the report said.

The cases were opened after protests nationwide over last month's jailing of Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny and his supporters say his 30-month sentence, for alleged parole violations related to an embezzlement case, was trumped up for political reasons, something the authorities deny.

Google declined to comment on the Interfax report. Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok and Telegram did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nampa/Reuters