Biznews Radio
1,540 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago -Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and businesspeople from South Africa and across the globe.
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Episodes
Old Mutual fires Moyo - again! Mr Price plunges, Italtile shines; Mboweni tightens belts; France Brexit blow for Boris; KPMG in Hong Kong protest scandal
August 22, 2019 16:41 - 5 minutes - 5.08 MBOld Mutual has fired its CEO Peter Moyo - again. Moyo has been involved in a bitter dispute with Old Mutual chairman Trevor Manuel in connection with private business dealings that were declared when Moyo first took up his role at the helm of the life assurer. Moyo was suspended earlier this year, then reinstated, but Old Mutual’s lawyers keep trying to axe him. On Thursday the 174-year-old insurer gave Moyo further notice of termination in a dispute that erupted in May, reports Bloomberg. ...
View from London: Even with half current debt, Eskom not sustainable
August 22, 2019 11:30 - 7 minutes - 6.79 MBThe global head of credit research at Debtwire, Nick Saville-Smith, joined us on Rational Radio this week to provide a City of London perspective on the latest financials released by Eskom. The good news is that it could have been a lot worse had Cyril Ramaphosa not gotten the nod at the ANC's December 2017 elective conference. The bad news is even at half its current debt burden, he believes Eskom is not sustainable. - Alec Hogg
Ram Ottapathu: Embattled Choppies founder reckons he'll be proven right
August 22, 2019 11:28 - 8 minutes - 7.61 MBRam Ottapathu, founder of Botswana's leading retailer Choppies, has been under heavy attack of late after a forensic and legal audit into the JSE-listed company accused him of malfeasance. But Ottapathu admits that although governance was slack, no money is missing and no fraud was committed. He intends setting the record straight and getting the suspension of the shares lifted soon after the EGM called for 4 September. Apologies for the poor sound quality. - Alec Hogg
GG Alcock: Time to recognise millions in SA's flourishing informal economy
August 22, 2019 08:59 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBGG Alcock's unique background - raised by anti-apartheid activists who lived their values by relocating to SA's poorest area to live like locals - provided him with a very different thought process to his fellows. And he has put it to good use by researching and writing about the country's informal economy, where millions of people earn and spend a huge slice of SA's unrecorded GDP. GG reckons when you add those busy in the informal economy to the official numbers, the country's real unemplo...
Inflation slows; JSE, Rand gain; Sars IT head suspended; Arms deal ruling white-washed; Growth could see outages
August 21, 2019 18:46 - 4 minutes - 3.75 MBIn today's business headlines: South Africa’s headline consumer inflation slowed to 4% year-on-year in July; The inflation figures helped a recovery on the JSE and in the value of the Rand; SARS has suspended its controversial IT chief Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane following serious allegations of misconduct; South Africa’s High Court has set aside findings of an inquiry that found no evidence of corruption in the arms deal in the 90s linked to former President Jacob Zuma; and Growth in GD...
David Shapiro: Homework, not blind faith required with fallen angels like DSY, ASP, SOL
August 21, 2019 12:59 - 9 minutes - 9.16 MBIn this week's edition of Rational Radio, SA's favourite market commentator David Shapiro wades into the investment market controversies surrounding Discovery, Sasol, Blue Label and Aspen. His advice: the shares may look really cheap, but before knowing that for sure, you'll need to do your homework - and wait to see a recovery in the prices before jumping aboard. - Alec Hogg
Mike Wylie on WBHO's secret sauce: Five attributes his leaders must possess
August 21, 2019 12:55 - 10 minutes - 10 MBNowadays few employees consider lifetime employment. But back in 1974, things were very different as outgoing WBHO chairman Mike Wylie tells us in this fascinating interview on Rational Radio. Wylie has been intimately involved in the growth of a tiny Cape-based startup business that is today SA's dominant construction company - and the only major player still standing after a decade of decline. He reckons it's all about the people, crediting WBHO's longstanding approach of only promoting fr...
Steinhoff hits 87c; Shoprite falls; Gwede on Eskom, Unions; IMF scare to spur action; Copyright Bill backlash
August 20, 2019 18:44 - 4 minutes - 4.33 MBIn today's business headlines: Steinhoff shares fall to an all time low of R0.87 a share on the JSE; Shoprite shares dropped by more than 9% after losses in the rest of Africa leads to a full year trading loss of R265m; Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says he sees unions backing Eskom’s rescue plan; The IMF scare may jolt the Government into action to come up with a proper turnaround plan; and Global film and television companies have asked President Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign the Cop...
Rein in government spending and ship can be turned around - Rhandzo Mukansi
August 20, 2019 13:28 - 7 minutes - 6.47 MBIn the $100trn global bond market, it appears to be hard to find a good investment. With Germany announcing that it will sell an ultra-long bond at 0% for the first time this week, there is talk of Germany being in danger of Japanification. If investors put their money into Japanese, German and many other European government bonds, they would be putting money into assets knowing they will lose money on the deal. Contrast that to the yield of South Africa’s 10-year bond which is more than 8%....
Fidentia curators coin it, widows weep; EU braces for hard Brexit; Discovery, Blue Label, Resilient
August 19, 2019 19:36 - 4 minutes - 4 MBIt was another rough day on the JSE for medical scheme provider Discovery, which lost 8%, and Aspen, which shed more than 4%. Blue Label Telecoms also took a knock, losing more than 3% of its value after announcing a delay in the release of its financial results. It expects to produce figures that will disappoint investors, when it eventually posts its results. Real Estate Investment Trust Resilient, which owns about 30 shopping centres around South Africa, moved up nearly 5% following th...
Personal finance: How NHI law will hit your tax, savings, medical cover
August 19, 2019 09:08 - 12 minutes - 11 MBThe National Health Insurance (NHI) bill sent shock waves across the Johannesburg stock exchange earlier this month, hammering darlings like Discovery and hospital companies. But the damage to your share portfolio was just the start of NHI-induced financial pain. Expect big taxes to cover a government department that will be more expensive to run than Eskom as everyone joins the queues for state medical care. In this personal finance podcast, Johannesburg money expert Dawn Ridler chats to Ja...
Jooste won't repay R850m; 1.7m protest in HK; Capitec and Sasol shares slump.
August 18, 2019 17:20 - 5 minutes - 5.2 MBFormer Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste, who has been accused of fraudulently inflating the company’s profit numbers over the past decade, is refusing to repay Steinhoff the R850m in salary and bonuses he received since 2009. Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong yesterday held one of their biggest rallies as activism stretched into its 11th week, Organisers said 1.7m mostly black clad protestors attended a rally in Victoria Park, with many of them clogging traffic arteries by marching almos...
Emigration fuelling tax concerns but Azar Jammine sees a ray of light
August 16, 2019 09:18 - 7 minutes - 6.64 MBThe mood in South Africa is particularly gloomy at the moment as the New Dawn that President Cyril Ramaphosa promised, remains a tiny glimmer of light on the horizon. Ramaphosa is distracted by in-fighting in his own party, using the Public Protector to attack him and restricted by policies adopted by the ANC including land expropriation without compensation. This is preventing him from undertaking the structural reforms that would bring foreign investment to South Africa that Ramaphosa so s...
Land expropriation debate is deterring investment - IRR's Terence Corrigan
August 16, 2019 08:03 - 7 minutes - 7.15 MBThe debate on land reform is heating up as a cross-party Parliamentary committee begins to look at how the Constitution can be changed to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. This is after the Presidential Panel concluded its report and suggested a watered down version of the original proposal for land expropriation without expropriation. The panel stressed that constitutional amendments are not, on their own, the only tools available in order to bring redress to the peo...
IMF not needed; Lefties shackle Cyril; Goldfields, Implats back in black; Discovery recovery; Petrol price hike
August 15, 2019 18:29 - 4 minutes - 4.27 MBIn today's business headlines: The IMF says South Africa does not need a loan, but it needs structural reforms to boost growth; Bloomberg says President Cyril Ramaphosa's left wing allies is hampering economic reforms; Gold Fields has returned to a first-half profit of $70.5m in June but its headline earnings per share fell, while Implats swung to its first net profit in five years; Discovery shares claw back; Weaker rand could lead to 10 cent hike in the petrol price in September; and ...
Journalist Malcom Rees: How Johann van Loggerenberg got falsely labelled a police spy
August 15, 2019 12:18 - 7 minutes - 7.09 MBSouth Africans who lived through the apartheid era are keenly aware that there are few accusations worse than being called a policy spy. Back in the 1980s it was a moniker that could easily cost your life. The best known case is probably the murder of Stompie Moeketsi, accused of being a police spy at the age of 14, by a member of Winnie Mandela's "Football Club” in 1989. In contemporary South Africa, it is still regarded as a disgrace to have served as an informer to the police in the forme...
SA bond dump; Stocks bullied, gold glitters; Credit Suisse sees SA light; Former Eskom execs want top job; Facebook recorded you
August 14, 2019 17:57 - 4 minutes - 4.23 MBIn today’s business headlines: Investors have been dumping South African bonds at a rate of almost R2bn a day in August. South African stocks approached a six months low yesterday but gold shares are still shining. The JSE all-share index dropped by 2.11% while the benchmark Top-40 index was 2.37% down. Credit Suisse suggested that investors should start to accumulate shares focused on the South African economy. There are a couple of former Eskom executives keen to take on the job as C...
David Shapiro on Discovery's 'blackhole', SA Inc sell off and the missing prosecution
August 14, 2019 14:35 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBThis week on Rational Radio David Shapiro spends a lot of his time searching for answers to Discovery's massive sell off which has seen the stock fall to around R100 a share. There's talk of an analyst and a gaping R15bn hole, while National Health Insurance also finds itself amongst a bag full of potential reasons. SA Inc also experienced a marked sell-off recently, with David searching for a reason to buy. While Steinhoff's investor presentation and the topic of Markus Jooste also come up ...
Wilhelm Hertzog: Steinhoff shares a "coin toss" - bonds, prefs much better bet
August 14, 2019 11:22 - 13 minutes - 12 MBOn this week's Rational Radio show, Wilhelm Hertzog gave us his impressions of the long awaited Steinhoff Investor Presentation which he attended yesterday. In this insightful contribution, the co-founder of money manager Rozendal Partners also explains why those paying anything for Steinhoff's JSE-listed shares - even at 124c - are engaging in a gamble that's akin to a "coin toss". Those wanting a bet on an eventual recovery should rather investigate the company's bonds or even its preferen...
Steinhoff execs answer investors: Q&A at the Investor Presentation
August 14, 2019 09:00 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MBAfter an hour and a half of presentations by Steinhoff executives and directors, investors got the opportunity to pose their questions. The spontaneous nature of this part ensures that it is often the most interesting part of any presentation, especially for smaller Steinhoff shareholders hoping to pick up some guidance from the professionals. - Alec Hogg
CEO Louis du Preez: Where we are - and the road ahead for Steinhoff
August 14, 2019 08:28 - 8 minutes - 8.23 MBEmbattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigato...
Steinhoff CFO Philip Dieperink: On legal claims, Jooste's financial shenanigans
August 14, 2019 08:15 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBEmbattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigato...
UCT Accounting prof Alex Watson: Unravelling Steinhoff's Gordian Knot
August 14, 2019 06:57 - 16 minutes - 14.8 MBEmbattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigato...
Steinhoff CEO Louis du Preez answers: When is Markus Jooste going to jail?
August 14, 2019 06:34 - 8 minutes - 7.35 MBEmbattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigato...
Chair Heather Sonn - Investor presentation conceived over 20 months
August 14, 2019 06:30 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBEmbattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigato...
Steinhoff sell-off; Absa struggles; Amplats eco-battery plan; Argentina EM contagion fears
August 13, 2019 17:56 - 5 minutes - 4.92 MBSteinhoff bosses say the only way the company can survive is if it sells assets and transforms into a holding company. It has a mountain of debt that is a worry. CEO Louis du Preez delivered a stark assessment of Steinhoff's options at the company's first public investor presentation since the scandal took hold, saying a radical transformation into a retail-focused investment holding company was its "only way to survive". Absa failed to impress investors when it released its results on Tu...
Personal finance: Tackling scary truths about your SA savings, investments - money expert
August 13, 2019 12:54 - 10 minutes - 9.65 MBIn this BizNews Personal Finance podcast, Johannesburg money expert Dawn Ridler chats to Jackie Cameron about how to start getting your personal finances in order. Ridler sets out some of the obstacles to growing wealth, including the huge returns you need to make to generate a decent return when investment costs are so high. Dawn has a real knack for simplifying the world of money, so this podcast is essential listening for anyone who wants to get their personal finances into better shape.
NHI hammers Discovery, Aspen; Junk priced in; Rand falls; investment banks chop staff; Naspers India play
August 12, 2019 19:40 - 4 minutes - 4.49 MBMoody hasn’t said it, but investors already think it: South Africa’s credit is junk. That’s according to Bloomberg, which says the market is pricing in a downgrade. The risk premium has climbed since mid-July, when the government announced it would increase borrowing to support Eskom. Monday was a hairy day on the JSE with some shares dramatically up and some dramatically down. With four of top losers of the day in the healthcare sector - including market darling Discovery - analysts say t...
Ramaphosa's contributors named; Rand keeps falling; Epstein commits suicide; MTN attracts attention
August 11, 2019 16:59 - 5 minutes - 5.3 MBThe storm around Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential campaign funding ratcheted up a level as a weekend newspaper disclosed names of contributors, mostly well-known business personalities. The South African Rand extended its longest losing streak in two years on Friday as the currency dropped to R15.25 against the US Dollar - 50c worse than where it began the week. America’s disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell yesterday after apparently having taken his own li...
Paul O Sullivan draws Hogan Lovells blood: "I'm a hyena onto your kudu"
August 08, 2019 09:05 - 9 minutes - 8.52 MBThe SA office of global law firm Hogan Lovells is fragmenting after a sustained assault on them by forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan and British peer Peter Hain. The firm, accused by the activist duo of facilitating State Capture, is to shrink to a quarter of its former size, with 71 lawyers spinning off into an independent operation. But an unplacated O'Sullivan isn't buying the re-engineering exercise, warning that until the lawyers involved pay back hefty fees generated during the Zum...
Cemair founder Miles vd Molen: Boxing on, despite State-sponsored abuse
August 08, 2019 08:46 - 7 minutes - 6.58 MBFormer pilot turned airline founder Miles van der Molen personifies the courage and persistence of a blue blooded entrepreneur. He's needed every ounce of it to keep the 23-aircraft Cemair afloat after predatory pricing by the State's heavily subsidised SA Express and what the court described as an "irrational" grounding order by SA's Civil Aviation Authority. On this week's episode of Rational Radio, Van Der Molen explains how he's still standing despite overwhelming odds. Inspirational. - ...
David Shapiro on dumping Aspen, turbulent markets and Stellenbosch Mafia
August 08, 2019 08:39 - 10 minutes - 9.8 MBIn the country's latest bestseller, author Pieter du Toit tracks the first public mention of "The Stellenbosch Mafia" back to a decade and a half back when David Shapiro used the reference in one of our interviews. But as SA's favourite market commentator used it in a benign, almost admiring way - a far cry from the unlamented ex-Bell Pottinger inspired campaign which painted them as a malignant force of greedy Hoggenheimers. On Rational Radio this week Shapiro offers his perspectives on the...
The back story to SA's new #1 bestseller with its author Pieter du Toit
August 08, 2019 08:19 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBAuthor of The Stellenbosch Mafia, Pieter du Toit, is almost made for the job. A graduate of the town's famous Paul Roos Gymnasum and Stellenbosch University, having breathed its air for so many years, Du Toit has insights that outsiders can never acquire. He applied this advantage together with his access to media-shy billionaires to very good effect into what instantly became South Africa's best selling book - and is likely to stay top of the list for some time. Superbly written, Du Toit al...
Molefe must pay; Eskom wants debt transfer; Business confidence drops; Glencore stutters, gold glitters
August 07, 2019 18:01 - 4 minutes - 3.71 MBIn today's business headlines: Former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe has lost his Constitutional Court case over his R30 million pension. Eskom wants the majority of its R440bn of debt transferred to the South African government. Moody’s says Eskom urgently needs to action a turnaround plan, or it will collapse under mounting debt. South African business confidence fell in July. Glencore is closing a copper and cobalt mine due to drop in cobalt prices. and the Rand drops but gold glistens.
Paul Hoffman: Firing another two barrels at PP Busisiwe Mkhwebane
August 07, 2019 12:32 - 5 minutes - 5.17 MBOn Rational Radio this week, founder of Accountability Now Paul Hoffman revisits his nuclear attack on South Africa's embattled Public Protector. After launching an application at the Legal Practice Council to have the PP disbarred, Hoffman explains that this could take some months - so he has opened the attack on two more fronts. This week Accountability Now laid criminal charges against Ms Mkhwebane for perjury and defeating the ends of justice - and has reported her to her own Public Prot...
The birthing of iThokazi - new four-into-one BEE renewable energy player
August 07, 2019 02:00 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBIn this special podcast, RMB Infrastructure Transactor Sindisiwe Mbuli takes us into the deal which combined four previously independent BEE entities into iThokazi, a 100% black owned renewable energy company. iThokazi owns six solar PV projects and two wind farms which together generate 300MW of much needed electricity for South Africa. They also bring in active engineering and construction arms specialising in the renewable sector. iThokazi is well positioned for the South African governme...
Bank stocks dive, strike chaos looms; Eskom Mr Fixit lacks 'wow' factor - BUSA; Steinhoff insider trading
August 06, 2019 19:08 - 6 minutes - 5.83 MBBanks are taking strain, with the weight of bad news about the economy knocking JSE listed shares. Bloomberg reports that the index has dropped 15% since President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged a relentless focus on growth in his June 20 State of the Nation address. South Africa's biggest financial union is threatening to disrupt the country's banking industry by leading its 73,000 members on a strike next month, in what would be its largest industrial action in almost a century, says Bloomberg....
Invest in raw materials for coming electric age - resources researcher
August 06, 2019 14:27 - 8 minutes - 7.97 MBI learnt just the other night from a geologist family friend that most of the world’s very finite lithium deposits lie in the salt pans of Bolivia - and that he’s spent years prospecting for rock-based lithium deposits just north of Upington while employed by a major parastatal. It’s pretty obvious with the inexorable electric car revolution that within a decade or so, extracting any local lithium deposits may become hugely financially viable, even though there’s a built-in environmental par...
Johnny Rabie: LX Living close to sold out, more Lisbon projects beckon
August 06, 2019 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBOver the past four decades, Cape Town property icon Johnny Rabie has built a solid reputation in his hometown - culminating with the development of the 250ha Century City project. After being approached by his new Portuguese partner, Rabie is now applying skills learned in South Africa into the LX Living project in Lisbon. With 120 if the 150 units in the e90m development sold out, Rabie is now investigating two more projects in the European capital, whose praises he seems unable to sing hig...
Not only two Scoops for ice cream queen Amanda Maidman
August 06, 2019 07:59 - 14 minutes - 13 MBWhen a woman locates herself with her daughter to South Africa after a successful career opening gastropubs and Wagamamas in London; she is bound not to sit still for long. She is Amanda Maidman who found herself in Ballito looking for an idea for a business when her daughter suggested ice cream, Scoop was started. Like everything else Amanda has tackled in the restaurant business, she has jumped in boots and all and now Scoop is the place to go to and buy delicious homemade ice cream in Kwa...
SAX bailout scandal; SA pvt sector shrinks; trade war rattles financial markets; JSE gold stocks glisten
August 05, 2019 19:05 - 4 minutes - 3.9 MBAnother government entity is at the centre of a money scandal - this time SA Express, which has sucked up more than R1.5bn in taxpayers' funds to cover losses. The Free Market Foundation crunches numbers that will make your eyes water. President Cyril Ramaphosa and his team have more work cut out for them to fix the broken economy, with the latest purchasing managers index confirming that the private sector is taking more strain. Trade war talk between China and the US has unnerved global...
Now for some good news. PPGI shows Business and Govt CAN pull together
August 05, 2019 14:36 - 8 minutes - 7.91 MBFor centuries, it seems, South African culture has divided public and private sectors into "us" and "them". Partly for historic reasons, but also because of disrespect for the other side, mostly born from ignorance. It doesn't have to be that way, as countless examples from elsewhere in the world has proven. Among the best examples is Japan where close co-operation between companies and bureaucrats is regarded as the reason for the nation's ability to rebuild from the nuclear bomb ashes of t...
There are NO angels in tobacco industry: just bag snatchers, robbers - Van Loggerenberg
August 04, 2019 17:57 - 17 minutes - 16.4 MBGrowing up, I never thought I’d be a smoker. My parents were smokers, one of my grandmothers died of a smoking-related cancer and I hated the haze of passive smoke that hovered throughout our home. But, at Rhodes University, I found myself sampling free Benson & Hedges at various university-hosted parties. Before I knew it, I was hooked. Big tobacco might no longer be able to play dirty games to get young people addicted to their products, but they still play dirty in other ways. Just ask Jo...
Buffett buys Berkshire shares; Huawei booms in China; Multichoice competitor folds.
August 04, 2019 16:47 - 5 minutes - 5.35 MBWarren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed over the weekend that it bought back $440m worth of its own shares in the three months to end June. The world’s number two smartphone maker Huawei Technologies is reaping an unexpected benefit from continued attacks by US president Donald Trump and his allies. In a related story, after brief and unproductive talks last week, the US/China trade war ratcheted higher on Sunday when US president Donald Trump over-ruled his advisors by deciding to ...
Big banks threatened by fintech, smaller nimble banks - Kokkie Kooyman
August 02, 2019 16:16 - 10 minutes - 9.3 MBIt is a fact of modern life all over the world that the days when you actually go in to a bank for transactions are officially over, apart from those big moments for a mortgage or a big loan which requires a branch manager and even that is a maybe. For most transactions you do not need a physical building and in many countries around the world, you don’t even use cash; you can pay by swiping a card, your phone or even the watch on your wrist. It may not be long before the car guard offers yo...
Unilever whistleblower on terrible cost he has borne for speaking out
August 02, 2019 08:20 - 6 minutes - 6.19 MBIt's an understatement to say whistleblower Juan Lerena has borne a terrible cost for exposing abusive practices by his former employer Sime Darby and fellow multinational Unilever. Forced into defending himself in a court action where top legal firm ENS represented Sime Darby, the judgment against Lerena (which we published as a right of reply) proves US president Abraham Lincoln's quip that in a court of law "he who represents himself has a fool for a client." The judgment paints Lerena as...
Rand battered by Powell; BAT smoking hot; Woolies takes Aussie hit; Discovery blocks Liberty; Post Office CEO quits
August 01, 2019 18:15 - 4 minutes - 4.01 MBIn today's business headlines The Rand has been battered by the dollar after the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell ruled out extending the cycle of rate cuts; British American Tobacco shares jumped by more than 8% as smoking alternatives cushioned the decline in cigarette sales; Woolworths has taken a new hit against its Australian arm; Insurer Discovery is accusing Liberty of using its incentive program Vitality without permission; and The Post Office’s CEO Mark Barnes has resi...
Magnus Heystek: Tips, traps on property investment in Mauritius
August 01, 2019 13:44 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBI love the idea of owning a small place overlooking the ocean - perhaps a mobile home or a little flat. But when would I get to use it? Not often, I suspect, because I wouldn't be able to take enough time off from work. That means the property would incur high overheads for little benefit. There are times when it makes sense to own a bit of paradise, however. As Magnus Heystek, a well-known personal finance commentator in South Africa, explains: acquiring bricks-and-mortar in Mauritius can f...
David Shapiro: Why I'm backing Old Mutual in its fight with CEO Moyo
August 01, 2019 08:02 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBDavid Shapiro has earned his title as South Africa's favourite market commentator through his forthright contributions. And on Rational Radio this week he didn't disappoint when asked to unpack the public ruckus between financial services giant Old Mutual and its former CEO Peter Moyo. Even though Moyo won a court hearing and returned to his desk this week, Shapiro comes out strongly on the company's side - arguing in some detail during this interview that the former CEO is simply fighting f...
Govt yields climb; Glencore copper production falls; Moyo in the OM building; Eskom’s new restructuring boss; PP, Ramaphosa in court
July 31, 2019 18:36 - 5 minutes - 5.15 MBIn today's business headlines: South African government yields climbed after the National Treasury said it will increase the amount of debt sold at weekly bond auctions. Glencore has reported a 2% fall in second-quarter copper production. Shares in UK property companies have plunged. There was stand-off between axed CEO Peter Moyo and Old Mutual as he pitched up for work. The new chief restructuring officer at Eskom, Freeman Nomvalo stays on at South African Institute for Chartered Ac...