Cars, jobs headed for PE as lender puts brakes on

A CHINESE stateowned car maker, the Beijing Automotive International Corporation, will build a plant in Port Elizabeth with capacity to produce 100 000 units a year‚ it said in a joint statement with the Industrial Development Corporation.

FAST-FOOD group Famous Brands, which owns Steers and Debonairs, bought Britain’s Gourmet Burger Kitchen for R2.1-billion, saving nearly a fifth on the price due to the weaker pound in the wake of Brexit, it said.

IMPALA Platinum narrowed its full-year loss after it increased refined output of the metal used for industrial and jewellery applications. It posted a loss of R70-million compared with a R3.66-billion loss the previous year.

THE retail price of petrol would fall by 18c to R12.17 per litre in Gauteng from Wednesday, while the price of diesel would go down by 49c to R10.49 per litre, the Energy Department said in a statement.

FUTUREGROWTH Asset Management dropped a bombshell on the market when it said it was pulling the plug on three new loans to state-owned enterprises‚ citing concerns over political infighting and threats to the independence of the National Treasury.

SOUTH Africa’s trade surplus shrank to R5.22-billion in July versus a revised surplus of R12.47-billion in June, SA Revenue Service data showed. Exports decreased 9% on a month-on-month basis, and imports fell 2.4%, it said.

GROWTH in credit demand by the private sector slowed to 6.78% year on year in July from a revised 7.23% in June, the Reserve Bank said. Expansion in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply also braked, to 4.41% from a revised 5.7% in June.

STEINHOFF warned that the slump in the pound, which hit a three-decade low after Britain’s vote to leave the EU, would hurt its UK business as the furniture conglomerate fell a touch short of estimates with a one-third rise in annual sales.