Hits&Misses

Eskom puts squeeze on consumers, growth finds a fan anyway

GOLDMAN Sachs expects the economy to grow almost 3% next year, helped by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reforms and strong global growth, the bank’s SubSaharan Africa head told Reuters. Colin Coleman’s prediction is more optimistic than the view held by economists polled last month, who saw it growing 1.7%.

A craft brewery backed by two CEOs of JSElisted companies says it has launched SA’s first beer made with cannabis. The brewer has received funding from a number of well-known Durbanbased investors, including RCL Foods CEO Miles Dally and Spar CEO Graham O’Connor. Poison City Brewing started selling a lager containing hemp in September, said coowner Andre Schubert.

THERE will be no changes to the Mining Charter, certainly within the next five years, following years of uncertainty, mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe said.

THE energy regulator will allow Eskom to claw back R31.1bn from consumers through a 4.41% electricity price hike over the next four years. The hike is over and above another tariff application, yet to be decided on, wherein Eskom has asked to be allowed to hike tariffs 15% for the next three years, energy analyst Chris Yelland noted. PRIVATE-SECTOR activity has remained subdued, indicating that the economy remained weak in the third quarter. The Standard Bank purchasing managers index showed that domestic business conditions improved only slightly in September to 48 after a 29-month low of 47.2 in August.

TECHNOLOGY group EOH reported a big drop in full-year profit and opted not to declare a dividend for the first time since the early 2000s. Headline earnings per share from continuing operations fell to R2.78, from R7.97 in the same period a year before.