Business News Leaders

Why Amplats CEO Chris Griffith chose to step down

Anglo American Platinum delivered a stellar annual performance and rewarded shareholders with a hefty dividend payout. The numbers were however overshadowed by the announcement of the CEO’s resignation. Business Day TV spoke to Chris Griffith, CEO of Amplats about the baton that he is handing over.

17 Feb 2020 1AM 12 min

How Italtile plans to expand despite weak demand

Italtile's weathered a tough six-months due to weak macro-economic conditions, but it still plans to progress with its expansion strategy. Business Day TV spoke to CEO Jan Potgieter about the firm's half-year performance, and where it's eyeing market share growth.

13 Feb 2020 1AM 6 min

How Gold Fields plan to rais R3.7bn to fund Salares Norte

Gold Fields has reported a jump in 2019 profit benefiting from increased gold production and a higher gold price. The headline earnings per share almost tripled on the back of that and the miner says that it plans on issuing new shares to raise about $269 million to help fund…

13 Feb 2020 1AM 6 min

What led to DRD Gold's boost in profits

An increase in gold production and a rise in the average rand-gold-price has boosted DRD Gold back into profitability. The company's Ergo and Far West Gold Recoveries units outperformed, helping the group report a six fold increase in interim operating profit. And moving forward the company's looking to the PGM…

12 Feb 2020 1AM 8 min

Risk appetite recovers as coronavirus fears ease

Risk appetite may have made a comeback on the global markets scene - but fears are rising around the extent to which the impact of the Coronavirus is being underestimated. And with Citi the latest to highlight that Citi highlight that the seven hardest-hit Chinese provinces, account for 35%-40% of…

12 Feb 2020 1AM 6 min

Why retailers’ sales contracted in December

Retail sales dipped in December, falling 0.4% year-on-year. The largest negative contributors to the print were general dealers and retailers in hardware, paint and glass. Yesterday we saw the unemployment rate unchanged at 29.1% with many experts pointing out the worrying fact that the wholesale and retail trade sector shed…

12 Feb 2020 1AM 6 min

How Harmony Gold managed to return to profit.

We’ve had the average gold price go up 19%. Sitting at its best in 9 years in 2019 - see Harmony present an almost fictional earnings report for its first half. Revenue up 12% - believable. But, headline earnings per share was soaring 6 325% while net profit grew 7…

11 Feb 2020 1AM 7 min

Is AngloGold selling their assets to Harmony?

Rumour has it that AngloGold may be selling its remaining local assets to Harmony Gold. This comes on the back of Harmony's half year numbers where it swung to profitability as it benefited from a 19% rise in the average gold price. Mergence Corporate Solutions’ Peter Major shares his thoughts…

11 Feb 2020 1AM 6 min

Brimstone lifts its stake in Obsidian

Investment holding company Brimstone now has a controlling stake in healthcare equipment supplier, Obsidian Health. This is now allowing the company to move in line with its strategy to acquire controlling interests in unlisted companies. Brimstone CEO Mustaq Brey talks to Business Day TV about the healthcare industry and their…

10 Feb 2020 1AM 4 min

What is Zimbabwe's 2020 growth outlook?

The IMF has pegged a contraction of at least 6% in the Zimbabwean economy for 2019. This, with the country, hampered by power outages, foreign currency shortages, reduced production and inflation running rampant towards 500%, year-on-year. And political deadlock is certainly not helping. The Economist Intelligence Unit has in fact…

7 Feb 2020 1AM 7 min

Could legalising cannabis help SA's revenue shortfall?

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni recently tweeted that he needs more tax revenue, and hinted that decriminalising cannabis could help accomplish that goal. Business Day TV spoke to Brian Van Rooyen, CEO of Labat Africa, which has been growing its cannabis exposure, about the potential that the industry holds.

6 Feb 2020 1AM 7 min

Why ArcelorMittal SA has slipped into the red

ArcelorMittal South Africa has swung to a headline loss of over R3 billion. This in part due to a weaker rand and a fall in steel prices driven by increased imports during it's full-year. Along with this, the company has also seen a surge in net impairment charges over the…

6 Feb 2020 1AM 6 min

Are there holes in Cosatu's Eskom bailout plan?

Cosatu's proposed digging into the Government Employee Pension Fund to address Eskom's financial woes. Business Day TV spoke to Janina Slawski, Principal Investment Consultant at Alexander Forbes Investments about the viability of the plan and its far reaching consequences.

6 Feb 2020 1AM 7 min

Why are South African miners facing a funding squeeze?

Making the mining industry more sustainable has been a key focus at the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba over the past few days. This comes as mining companies struggle to secure funding as global investors shift away from heavy industry in favour of cleaner sectors. Joining Business Day TV…

5 Feb 2020 1AM 5 min

Can SA's mining sector bounce back?

The 26th edition of the Investing in African Mining Indaba is underway in Cape Town. The theme for this year is "Optimising Growth and Investment in the Digitised Mining Economy". Around this time last year, Roger Baxter, CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa penned an article on bouncing back…

5 Feb 2020 1AM 7 min

Should the GEPF be used to cut Eskom's debt?

Cosatu has proposed a R250 billion bailout plan for Eskom, with the funds set to come from the Government Employee Pension Fund. Business Day TV spoke to Cosatu’s Parliamentary Officer, Matthew Parks to discuss the risk and conditions of the proposal .

5 Feb 2020 1AM 7 min

Why Edcon is still battling to survive

Having secured a 2.7 billion rand capitalisation plan in March 2019 in which lenders, including the PIC, freed it of all interest-bearing debt in exchange for shareholdings. Edcon, the owner of Jet and Edgars, is battling for survival and reports of continued stress are borne out by ongoing store closures,…

4 Feb 2020 1AM 15 min

Policy uncertainty remains in SA's mining sector

The 26th edition of the Investing in African Mining Indaba and policy uncertainty still remains. Peter Leon, Co-chair and Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills raises questions around potentially unlawful provisions of Mining Charter three and shortcomings of the draft Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill. Mineral resources & energy minister, Gwede…

3 Feb 2020 1AM 7 min

China seeks to cushion Coronavirus' blow to the economy

China's central bank took its first concrete steps to cushion the economy in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. That's as it lowered interest rates of reverse repurchase agreements while injecting a large amount of liquidity into the banking system. Joining Business Day TV with his take on the move…

3 Feb 2020 1AM 5 min

Potential impact of the Coronavirus on SA’s tourism sector

International tourist arrivals to South Africa have been on the decline - those arrivals in fact came in at at a three-and-a-half-year low in the third quarter... And in a bid to turn that around SA Tourism signed a two-year deal with China's biggest online platform, Tencent, to help lure…

30 Jan 2020 1AM 8 min