Gupta’s v Gordhan In Court

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s legal team will on Tuesday face off with 14 Gupta-owned companies over the blacklisting of their bank accounts by South Africa’s top four banks. Meanwhile President Jacob Zuma has asked to intervene as an “interested party” in the matter. Zuma argued that Standard Bank had sought relief that affected the president directly, but failed to join him into the legal proceedings as a party

Source : https://goo.gl/OkEwD1

Judge Dismisses Zuma’s Application To Join Pravin Case

The High Court in Pretoria has told President Jacob Zuma’s legal representatives that he is not formally part of the process and so cannot be added as an “interested party”. Zuma made an 11th-hour application on Monday asking to be added in Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s application against Gupta-linked Oakbay Investments as an “interested party”. Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo said on Tuesday that because Zuma was not a party in the matter, his legal team could only observe.

Source : https://goo.gl/w0KuDU

Zuma Recalls Pravin Gordhan From Investment Roadshow

The rand plummeted about 52c against the dollar on Monday after President Jacob Zuma ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan home from a global investor road show, while banks and property stocks retreated on the JSE in similar fashion to Nenegate in December 2015. The rand’s retreat was directly attributable to Zuma’s action despite a weaker dollar, which usually supported an appreciation in the rand, analysts said..

Source : https://goo.gl/r5mIwj

Brian Joffe To Step Aside

Bidcorp executive chairperson Brian Joffe has announced that he will be stepping down from this position to launch a new JSE-listed company. “Brian (Joffe) has informed the board that he will be launching a new listed JSE investment vehicle which will not focus on activities competitive with the current Bidcorp’s foodservice business,” Bidcorp said on Tuesday.

Source : https://goo.gl/eEhQy0

SAA Losses Climb Significantly

Losses of the already cash-strapped South African Airways (SAA) has rapidly increased to R4.5-billion, documents submitted to Parliament’s standing committee on Finance revealed. “This new figure of R4.5-billion is significantly higher than the R3.5-billion revealed ten days ago and the R1.7-billion estimated in September 2016.

Source : https://goo.gl/PW0Od7

Fake TV’s Recalled From Massmart Stores

Massmart has quarantined TVs which are being sold as Full HD (1080p), but have HD Ready panels (720p) in them and has initiated a product recall for the units. The recall follows an investigation by MyBroadband and ISACA member Abu-Huraira Oman Abdalla, which showed that a “Full HD” 32-inch Telefunken TV sold at Game stores sported an HD Ready panel.

Source : https://goo.gl/jPHbmL

Indicators : Oil 50.99 – Rand/USD 12.87 – Rand/GBP 16.24 – Rand/EUR 14.03

 

 

16 Letters Detail Gordhan & Moyane War

16 letters have emerged exposing the true extent of the war between SARS commissioner Tom Moyane and minister of finance Pravin Gordhan. In one letter Moyane accuses Gordhan of subjecting him to “horrible and intolerable working conditions through belittling, humiliating, denigrating, antagonising and disparaging persona” he goes on to say, “I ask  myself every day what have i ever done to you that has made you mistreat and beseige me as if i am a little boy”. In turn, Gordhan warned Moyane that approving his own performance bonus was unethical, immoral and illegal. In most cases Gordhan did not respond to the letters but it seems Moyane approached pres Zuma for help which the president didnt give him.

Source : https://goo.gl/VpRSBz

Xenophobia March & MTN Nigeria Attack

Thousands of people are expected to take part in an anti-immigration march in Pretoria where law Law enforcement officers will be deployed along the route and at venues where memorandums would be handed over. The anti-immigration march was organised by a group calling itself the Concerned Mamelodi Residents. Meanwhile, the MTN offices in Nigeria were attacked yesterday and vandalised in retaliation to what is going on here. This lead to police having to be deployed to protect the premises.

Source : https://goo.gl/CzE26j

SA Tops Global Equity Returns Since 1900

South African stocks have returned an average 7.2%, more than 2%age points above the global average and the most among 23 nations tracked by Credit Suisse and LBS. The nation is Africa’s biggest coal and iron-ore producer, and the world’s largest of platinum, manganese and ferrochrome. Denmark tops the list for bond returns with an average 3.3%, equities were the best-performing asset in every country, showing over the long run there has been a reward for higher risk.

Source : https://goo.gl/Ungikg

Discovery posts Encouraging Results

Shares in Discovery rose as much as 7.92% to R127.99, despite the group missing earnings forecasts. The share price closed 4.35% higher at R124.70. Delivering the group’s results for the six months to December 2016, CEO Adrian Gore said the group had more than R1bn to fund new business growth and operating losses in emerging businesses Ping An Health, Discovery Insure and the Vitality Group were substantially lower.

Source : https://goo.gl/7E41sQ

Swiss Firm hit By $100 Million Fraud

Swiss engineering group ABB on Wednesday said it fell victim to a “sophisticated criminal scheme” at its South Korean subsidiary, with the chief suspect an executive responsible for ethics training. The executive is suspected of forging documents and colluding with third parties to steal funds, ABB said, estimating it would take a pre-tax charge of about $100 million for the affair, which analysts said raised concerns about its corporate oversight. The company claimed that he embezzled a combined 35.7 billion won ($31.31 million) in 73 transactions, the official said, adding that police were investigating the man’s accounts.

Source : https://goo.gl/PTHKXE

Swedes Overpaying Their Taxes

Official figures published on February 22nd showed tax revenues poured in far faster than forecast last year. Sweden’s government got a budget surplus of 85bn kronor ($9.5bn) in 2016. Nearly half of that, 40bn Skr, was from overpayment by firms and individuals. This appears to be deliberate. Income tax rates, at least for the well-off, can be as high as 57% while we are crying about 45% in South Africa. then again, you get what you pay for in those countries while nobody really knows what we get here.

Source : https://goo.gl/D9ctDr

Indicators : Oil 56.43 – Rand/USD 12.90 – Rand/GBP 16.16 – Rand/EUR 13.66

 

 

 

Brian Molefe Sworn In As MP

Former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe has reportedly been sworn in as ANC member of Parliament. The official announcement is expected to be made when the National Assembly sits on Thursday afternoon.

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VAT On Fuel Coming In 2018

Treasury is currently mulling the potential of removing the zero VAT rating on fuel but adds that “this will be subject to consultation leading up to the 2018 budget”. Gordhan announced that there will be a 30c per litre increase in the fuel levy and a nine cents per litre increase in the RAF levy‚ effective on 5 April.

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Sibanye Pays R1.3 Billion Dividend

Sibanye, which during 2016 added the whole of Aquarius Platinum and Anglo American Platinum’s Rustenburg mines to its portfolio, declared a total dividend of R1.45 per share for the year, returning R1.3bn to shareholders. Sibanye reported a profit for the year to end-December of R3.3bn compared with R538m a year earlier. Net debt in the group grew to R6.3bn from R1.3bn a year earlier as its gross debt shot up to R8bn from R1.8bn a year earlier

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Pravin Gordhans Investment Portfolio

A document released by Parliament’s ethics committee reveals that finance minister Pravin Gordhan held shares in more than 35 listed companies in 2016. Fin24 provided an image from the document highlighting Gordhan’s investment portfolio, which includes some of the biggest JSE-listed companies. The ministers’ portfolio includes shares in the banking industry, mining, real estate investment trusts, retailers, and the telecommunications sector. News24 reported on Tuesday that members of Parliament who did not meet the deadline to submit their financial interests and gifts will be given seven days to explain why they failed to do so. The seven days will only come into effect once the members have received letters from the acting registrar of Parliament, who has not sent them out yet.

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$1 Trillion Trade Deal

The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) is aimed at cutting red tape and making the international flow of goods more seamless. It spans all 164 members of the World Trade Organization, including the U.S. The WTO said the deal will slash its members’ trade costs by average of 14.3% and will boost global merchandize trade by $1 trillion a year.

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Indicators : Oil 56.31 – Rand/USD 12.97 – Rand/GBP 16.09 – Rand/EUR 13.67

 

Budget 2017 Broken Down

Here are the major points to focus on from the Budget delivered by minister Pravin Gordhan.

• New tax rate for the super rich. High income earners, those earning more than R1.5 million a year, will pay 45% tax. Around 100 000 taxpayers will be affected
• Sin tax on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products will go up between 6% and 10% this year.
• An increase of 30c/litre in the general fuel levy and 9c/litre in the road accident fund levy.
• Government will spend R187.5 billion on health
• Government will spend R320.5 billion on education including and extra R5 billion for higher education.
• 47.5% of available funds are allocated to national government, 43.4% to provinces & 9.1% to local government.
• The annual allowance for tax free savings accounts will be increased to R33 000
• Old age grant will increase by R90 to R1600 for pensioners over the age of 60 and R1620 for those over 75
• Foster care grants increase by R30 to R920 a month.  The child support grant increases by R20 to R380 a month
• Public procurement will amount to about R1.5 trillion over the next three years
• Measures being put in place to make sure banking sector rigging will be stamped out and more licenses have been issued in the banking sector.

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Pravin To Deliver His Budget Speech

Pravin has quite a juggling act on his hands with the 2017 budget speech. In October, Gordhan said tax-policy measures will raise an extra R43bn ($3.3bn) and spending will be reduced by R26bn in the next two years to narrow the budget shortfall. That said, there is a distinct possibility that taxes will be raised while some sacrifices will have to be made to trim government spending. Raising the 14% value-added tax rate is another option but this is politically unpopular because its thought to hurt the poor.

Source : https://goo.gl/kehGqS

Telkom Considers R13Bn Bid For Cell C

Telkom is considering a bid of as much as $1bn (R13.16bn) for wireless operator Cell C, which has missed debt payments and is trying to complete a recapitalisation. Blue Label Telecoms agreed to buy a 45% stake in Cell C last year, but the deal has yet to be completed a week before the end-February deadline. Telkom held talks with Cell C’s owner Oger Telecom in 2015 about buying the carrier but failed to agree on a price.

Source : https://goo.gl/dM3yk3

Barclays Africa Granted Immunity In Forex Rigging Case

The Competition Commission has granted Barclays Africa conditional immunity from prosecution in return for its continuing cooperation in the rand currency trading probe. “We did, through the investigation, receive a leniency application from Barclays/ABSA which cooperated and gave us more information,” The head of the Commission Tembinkosi Bonakele told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. I think these banks are being treated with kid gloves.

Source : https://goo.gl/kRtb3k

Verizon Cuts Yahoo Deal By  $350 Million

Verizon and Yahoo  have agreed to cut the acquisition price by $350 million following Yahoo’s disclosures in recent months of two huge security breaches affecting more than one billion users. Verizon’s new price tag for buying Yahoo’s core Internet assets is $4.48 billion, all in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

Source : https://goo.gl/MlqDtu

HSBC Suffers Loss Of $4.2 Billion

HSBC reported a net loss of $4.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2016. The biggest single hit to its battered bottom line came from a $2.4 billion writedown of the value of its private banking business in Europe. HSBC’s fourth-quarter results also suffered from lower revenue and higher costs than the same period a year earlier, when it posted a net loss of $1.3 billion. The bank’s shares were trading down around 5% in Hong Kong after it published the earnings report.

Source : https://goo.gl/NV9xrV

Indicators : Oil 56.90 – Rand/USD 13.13 – Rand/GBP 16.35 – Rand/EUR 13.81