COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Anglo exits from SA coal miner Thungela

lobal mining giant Anglo-American Plc on Friday announced the sale of its remaining shareholding in Thungela Resources, completing its exit from the South African coal business.

Under pressure from investors to exit coal businesses worldwide, the owner of gold, platinum and diamond mining companies, Anglo American hived off its entire stake in its South African coal mines into Thungela and distributed most of the shares to its shareholders through an initial public offering in June, barring 8%.

At the time of listing, investors had written off the prospects of Thungela amid global pressure on companies and countries to wean industries off of coal.

But rising coal prices turned the tables for Thungela and its shares are up six-fold in the last nine months.

Anglo said it sold its residual Thungela shareholding for 154 rand per share, realising gross proceeds of 1.67 billion rand (US$115 million). -Reuters

Netflix to invest R929 mln in South Africa

Global streaming giant Netflix is turning its attention to South Africa as it looks to boost subscriber numbers on the continent.

The company will pump R929 million into the creatives industry by 2023, with the funds covering one international production and three local shows, it announced at the South Africa Investment Conference in Johannesburg last week.

“South Africa is fast becoming a top global location for Netflix productions, with the country viewed as the go-to location with a robust and talented film industry,” Shola Sanni, Netflix’s director of public policy for Sub-Saharan Africa, said.

The investment conference is an annual event initiated by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 that seeks to secure domestic and inbound investment of R1.2 trillion over five years. -Fin24/Bloomberg

Remgro plans to offer cheap internet

If Remgro and Vumatel's strategy goes according to plan, South Africans across the country will soon have access to fast internet at around R100 per month.

The investment holding company has a 55.2% stake in Vumatel’s parent, Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH), which also owns Dark Fibre Africa.

On Thursday, at Remgro’s results presentation for the half-year ended 31 December 2021, investment executive at Remgro and CIVH chair Pieter Uys told shareholders that Vumatel has been piloting uncapped internet with speeds of 20 Mbps, for R100 per month, in Alexandra, Johannesburg.

Uys said there has been a "big" demand from residents, with usage of between five and eight gigabytes per day. And once the Vumatel gets more investment from Vodacom, it will accelerate its rollout in its bid to "democratise" the internet.

In 2021, Vodacom entered into an agreement to a controlling stake in CIVH’s assets, which would result in the mobile operator having 30% equity in InfraCo, a new entity that would include its fibre assets. -Fin24/Bloomberg

Riot claim to boost Clicks' earnings

A payout from insurer Sasria for the July riots is likely to boost Clicks’ earnings by more than 20%, the pharmacy retailer said on Thursday.

Clicks is one of many South African companies that were impacted by the unrest that saw people loot and damage stores and businesses in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

The group has since made a R726 million claim to the South African Special Risks Insurance Association (Sasria), for lost stock and replacement of fixed assets. The first pay out of R217 million came in September 2021 and a second of R250 million in October.

In a trading statement for the six months ended 28 February 2022, Clicks said it would account for the second interim insurance payment in its results for the half-year period.

The retailer added that the payment is likely to increase its earnings per share for the six months by 64.2 cents and its headline earnings per share by 38.3 cents. Clicks anticipates earnings jump of more than 20% due to the inclusion of the pay-out. - Fin24/Bloomberg

Uber secures London license

Uber Technologies Inc said on Saturday it has received permission to operate in London under a new 30-month license, ending a years-long battle with the city transport regulator over safety concerns.

"Uber has been granted a London private hire vehicle operator's license for a period of two and a half years," a spokesperson for Transport for London (TfL) said in a statement to Reuters.

In 2019, Uber lost its license to carry paying passengers in London for the second time, and a year later the ride-hailing firm was granted an 18-month London license after a legal battle to restore its operations. The US company first lost its license in 2017.

Uber had previously claimed that it has assuaged safety concerns by improving insurance document verification systems and rolling out real-time identification.

The firm also struck a deal with Britain's GMB union last year, allowing it to represent up to 70 000 drivers.

TfL now finds Uber to be a fit and proper person and has granted a license with conditions, the spokesperson added.-Reuters