Hits&Misses
MTN joins PayShap platform, Ster-Kinekor plans to close up to nine cinemas
MTN South Africa, in partnership with Investec and Electrum, has become the first non-banking company to join the PayShap digital payments platform through its MoMo mobile money unit. Together with the Payments Association of South Africa, BankservAfrica in 2023 launched PayShap, offering consumers cheap access to instant payments across participating banks via a cellphone number. Having initially launched with Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank, the service expanded to include
Capitec, Investec, Discovery Bank, Sasfin, TymeBank and African Bank.
CORONATION said it has diverted profits from its Richemont position, which provided a strong trading update, to invest in retailer Spar. The fund manager said while Spar experienced a difficult 2023, it is slowly turning around and recent trading updates indicate the chain is maintaining its market share in a tough retail environment. The fund manager also said it has added to its holding in Dis-Chem through a large placement of shares in the market.
SOUTH Africa’s growing working-age population gives it a competitive advantage over its Group of 20 (G20) peers grappling with shrinking populations, putting the country in a good position to attract higher levels of investment, says BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock expects that South Africa, alongside India and Saudi Arabia, will have the highest workingage population growth rates in the G20 over the next 10 years, as per UN population projections. The country’s working-age population is expected to grow by about 15% over the next two decades.
STER-KINEKOR plans to retrench nearly a quarter of its staff and close up to nine cinemas in Gauteng, KwaZuluNatal and the Western Cape as it battles with a fall in attendance. The company said the Hollywood actors and writers strike affected the film industry globally, resulting in limited film releases. However, prolonged and intense load-shedding locally also affected the performance of its cinemas, on top of low attendance, as cashstrapped consumers cut out luxuries. Online video streaming options have also dented cinema attendance.
JSE- and Australian-listed Orion Metals requested a trading halt ahead of what it calls a “a material announcement” in relation to exploration results at its
Okiep Copper Project.
The company said the trading halt was requested until April 22, “or such earlier time as Orion makes an announcement to update the market in relation to the exploration results”. The company said on Wednesday it has made further progress in its Okiep Copper Project acquisition, which was first announced in 2021. It said acquisition agreements are being signed.
The IMF has kept its growth forecasts for South Africa and the global economy broadly unchanged, saying the risk of a hard landing for the global economy has faded — but medium-term prospects are the weakest in decades. It warns commodity prices could slide further, with slowing growth in China and Europe weighing on non-fuel commodities such as base metals. The IMF in January slashed its South African growth forecasts for 2024 and 2025, citing the negative effects of rail and port constraints.