Tax delight for companies, except those selling booze or tobacco

FINANCE minister Tito Mboweni recommended in his budget speech that the tax rate on companies, many of which are trawling the coffers to make up for losses inflicted by lockdown measures, be lowered from 28% to 27% from April 2022. If taken on board, it would be the first reduction since 2008.

IMPALA Platinum is looking to boost its output by 360,000 ounces after posting a fourfold jump in half-year profits and raising its interim dividend on the back of higher metals prices, it said. Headline EPS for the six months to December 31 leapt to

R18.55 from 436c a year earlier. INFRASTRUCTURE and resources group Aveng swung into an interim headline profit for the first time since 2014, largely due to state support and a resilient market in Australia, and is upbeat about its ability to win new contracts after years of intense focus on its core businesses.

SA’s unemployment rate climbed to a record in the fourth quarter as more people started to look for jobs in an economy ravaged by lockdown restrictions. The jobless rate rose to 32.5% from 30.8% in the previous three months, Stats SA said. That’s the highest number on record.

THE alcohol and tobacco industries, already reeling from restrictions that banned the sale of their products, are now being hit with higher taxes. Excise duties on those products were raised 8% in the Budget Review presented by finance minister Tito Mboweni. The industries, hit by lockdown sales bans, had lobbied the government to grant them a reprieve from sin-tax increases this time around.

RETAIL group Woolworths opted not to pay an interim dividend even though it grew profits, warning that the first few months of 2021 could be tough as SA grapples with the economic fallout from Covid-19.