Fewer business sorrows to drown, but less wine to do it in, too

JUST a day before South Africans voted in the general elections, a report showed that business confidence had picked up on promises of economic growth and job creation. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s business confidence index rose to 93.7 in April from a seven-month low of 91.8 in March — the highest level since January.

DATATEC, the JSE-listed information and communications technology group, said it returned to profit in the year to end-February after the sale of major business units the prior year. The company, which raised $672m by selling businesses in financial 2018, said it would report headline earnings per share of US0.7c versus the 19.1c headline loss per share the prior year.

MTN met a deadline to respond to a $2bn tax demand from Nigeria’s attorney-general, a Nigerian judge ruled, after state lawyers said the firm had failed to do so.

SA, the world’s eighthlargest wine producer, is expected to harvest its smallest amount of wine grapes in 14 years this year as dry conditions and fluctuating weather hit output, an industry report said. The report by Vinpro, which represents 2,500 South African wine grape producers, wineries and related businesses, said the crop would be 1.4% smaller than 2018’s harvest and the lowest output since 2005.

TWO more outbreaks of African swine fever were detected in SA in April, the agriculture ministry said, following a spate of the disease in North West earlier that month. The outbreaks were detected in Gauteng and Mpumalanga, and the same virus was responsible for all three.

MASSMART’S share price had its biggest fall in six weeks on Monday when it said CEO Guy Hayward was calling it quits after less than five years of trying to turn around the fortunes of the Walmart-owned retailer.