Hits&Misses

SOE woe a harder row to hoe, manufacturing scales ivory tower

CARMAKER Toyota SA and Pretoria University’s Gordon Institute of Business Science have combined forces to create Africa’s first specialist manufacturing master’s in business administration in an attempt to boost the sector, which plays a key role in economic development. The degree programme will be introduced in 2019.

AFRICAN Bank says it is on track to launch its transactional banking product in the first half of 2019. The bank, which relaunched two-and-ahalf years ago after its 2014 collapse, said the transactional product was being tried out on its staff members, with about 3,000 now using it.

ANGLO American wants to make a positive contribution to SA’s efforts to reform land ownership and address racially skewed patterns, said CEO Mark Cutifani. Anglo will make an announcement on the subject this month, he told reporters in Johannesburg.

ESKOM’S first-half profit plunged 89% and the situation at the stateowned power utility is likely to worsen in the next six months, said chair Jabu Mabuza. Profit plunged to R671m in the six months through September from R6.3bn a year earlier, while finance costs rose to R15.2bn from R11.9bn, he told a presentation in Johannesburg.

BUSINESS confidence is at its lowest level since SA plunged into junk status in the second quarter of last year. The business confidence index, compiled quarterly by Rand Merchant Bank and Stellenbosch University’s Bureau for Economic Research, plummeted in the fourth quarter to 31 points from 34 in the third quarter.

SAA, which has already racked up losses of about R18bn over the past decade, needs about R17bn in government bailouts, or refinancing from banks, in the next three months to continue operations, executives told MPs.