Company news in brief

Sun International secures easier loan terms

Sun International has agreed easier borrowing terms with its lenders, two sources told Reuters, giving South Africa's biggest casino firm a year of financial breathing space as a third wave of Covid-19 crashes over the tourism industry.

The deal with Standard Bank, Absa Group and Nedbank essentially helps Sun stave off any prospect of default, said one of the sources, who was directly involved in the deal.

It is also a sign banks will continue to support the stricken hospitality industry more generally, said the second source, from one of Sun's leaders.

Sun had R7.67 billion of debt as of March 31.

"Absa and the other lenders remain supportive of Sun International and the measures taken by management," Absa said in an emailed response to questions, without giving details. Standard Bank and Nedbank declined to comment. – Nampa/Reuters

Prosus approves Naspers share purchase

Shareholders of technology investor Prosus NV on Friday approved a deal with parent Naspers Ltd of South Africa that will move most of the economic value of the intertwined companies to Amsterdam.

Under the deal, announced on May 11, Prosus - which has a 28.9% stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent – will launch an offer to buy up to 45.4% of Naspers' shares, issuing new Prosus shares to pay for them.

Approval, which came with 90% of the votes in favour of the deal, was already virtually assured from the Prosus side as Naspers has kept a controlling stake in Prosus since spinning the company off in a 2019 initial public offering.

The deal is intended in part to reduce that valuation discrepancy, and to move more of Naspers out of South Africa where it has an outsized weighting on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Once the deal is complete, Prosus will have an interest of roughly 60% in the underlying assets and Naspers roughly 40%. Naspers will retain control of Prosus via special voting rights, and they will continue to share a single board. – Nampa/Reuters

Volkswagen posts ops profit of US$13 bn

Volkswagen first-half operating profit is expected to come in at around 11 billion euro, it said on Friday, even surpassing pre-pandemic levels on the back of strong demand in Europe and the United States.

The good result was driven in particular by demand for premium brands Porsche and Audi as well as the group's financial services arm, Volkswagen said. The Chinese market was slightly weaker in the period, it said, without specifying.

In the same period last year, Volkswagen posted an operating loss of 1.49 billion euro, burdened by the impact of the coronavirus crisis. In 2019, that result stood at around 9 billion.

Along with rivals, Volkswagen has also been hit by a global shortage of crucial semiconductors, and Europe's largest carmaker said it now expected the main impact of the bottleneck to occur in the second half of the year.

Reported automotive net cash flow is expected to reach around 10 billion euro in the first six months, according to preliminary figures, up from the 5.57 billion in 2019 and the negative 4.8 billion last year. – Nampa/Reuters

Sainsbury's rebuked on pay

Nearly one fifth of votes cast at Sainsbury's annual shareholders' meeting on Friday opposed the British supermarket group's remuneration report in the latest investor protest against executive pay.

Ahead of the meeting investor advisory groups had recommended shareholders vote against the report because the board's remuneration committee opted to apply some upward discretion to payouts for 2020-21.

Investors have become more vocal in their opposition to boardroom pay deals they deem excessive amid society's broader struggles in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month investors in Morrisons overwhelmingly rejected the grocer's pay report.

At the meeting, held both physically and virtually, chair Martin Scicluna was asked if Sainsbury's was vulnerable to a takeover following Morrisons' decision to agree a 6.3 billion pound private equity buyout but declined to be drawn on the matter. – Nampa/Reuters

Philip Morris buys maker of inhalers

US cigarette giant Philip Morris said Friday that it has agreed to buy Vectura, a UK company making breathing inhalers, as part of a push into healthcare.

The Marlboro-maker will pay 150 pence per share in cash, valuing Vectura at £1.0 billion, the pair said in a statement.

The deal trumped a £958-million bid from private equity firm Carlyle that was agreed in May.

Philip Morris said Friday's move was part of its expansion "beyond tobacco and nicotine" and into "a broader healthcare and wellness company".

The group had in February identified respiratory drug delivery as a key focus, under broader plans to generate at least $1.0 billion in annual net revenues from nicotine-free products by 2025.

Since 2008, the cigarette giant has invested more than $8.0 billion in smoke-free products, "with the aim of disrupting its own traditional business", the statement added. – Nampa/Reuters