Hits & Misses

Petrol price fuels inflation, but Telkom shares surge on asset plan

SHARES in Telkom surged, adding more than R3bn to its market value, after it announced a multibillion-rand plan to list part of its property business in a move to unlock value from a portfolio of assets it says is not fully reflected in its share price.

SASOL, SA’s secondbiggest producer of greenhouse gases, set a target of cutting its emissions of climatewarming pollutants by 30% by 2030 and said it aimed to have net-zero emissions by 2050. The target is an improvement on a previous aim of reducing emissions by 10% by 2030 and comes as SA’s most-polluting companies come under increasing pressure to transition away from coal.

THE Competition Tribunal approved Grand Parade’s sale of the

South African franchise of Burger King to US private equity fund Emerging Capital Partners, with conditions. The approval of the deal allows foreign investment of about R498m to flow into SA.

ANNUAL consumer price inflation hit 4.9% in August, the fourth month it has floated above the 4.5% midpoint of the Reserve Bank’s target range. Fuel prices were a major driver in the latest print, rising 19.6% from a year ago, after steep increases in petrol prices in August pushed the price of inland 95-octane petrol to R18.30/l, Stats SA said.

LOSS-making health group Ascendis, which is battling a R7bn debt pile that dwarfs its market value, said it is seriously considering selling off all its businesses and delisting from the JSE. The option of remaining a listed group, while still being reviewed, is challenged by plans that will significantly reduce the scale of the group, it said.

SA’S average Covid-19 vaccination rate dropped to its lowest level in over a month, a trend that threatens to throw off course the government’s plan to inoculate threequarters of the population by year-end.