Rhodes Food on Tuesday reported an improved performance for the six months to March, with operating profit up six% to R173-million while turnover increased by 9.3% to R2.7-billion. The Western Cape-based firm, which owns such brands as Rhodes, Bull Brand, Magpie, Squish, Bisto, Hinds and Pakco, said headline earnings increased by 2.1% to R84-million.

South Africa’s embattled State power utility must prioritise collecting the money it is owed by municipalities as a first step toward becoming financially sustainable, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said. Eskom Holdings has reported that municipalities owed it R17-billion in arrears for power purchases by the end of September, a 25% increase from six months earlier. [...]

JSE-listed Pioneer Foods recorded a credible topline performance for the six months ended March 31, in a considerably constrained local consumer market with consequent competitive pressures. Revenue grew by 11.5% year-on-year to R11.04-billion, while sales volumes were up 2.7% year-on-year.

Barloworld’s results on Monday reflected some of the biggest trends in the South African economy, with the company reporting a sharp drop in equipment sales to the troubled construction industry, as well as a decline in new-vehicle sales and car rental days, but with the mining industry seemingly lifting its head. The equipment and logistics [...]

The application for a permanent stay of prosecution by former President Jacob Zuma's co-accused and French arms company, Thales, in relation to the dubious multibillion-rand arms deal will be heard in the Pietermaritzburg High Court over the next four days. "Bearing in mind the very long delay of this procedure – through no fault of [...]

Mozambique, which was battered by two cyclones in March and April, will hold an international conference in two weeks' time to drum up funding to help it build back stronger, its vice-minister for state administration said Friday. "What we have learned from these cyclones (is) we need to build new infrastructure but resilient," Albano Macie [...]

The Mozambican government has estimated its emergency assistance needs and reconstruction costs following cyclone Idai, in March, will reach $1.5-billion, or about 10% of the country’s gross domestic product. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a report, compiled information around the incident, including an assessment of the damage and a debt sustainability analysis.

Determined to broaden the inclusion of local manufacturers in local and international supply chains, the South African Capital Equipment Export Council has partnered with Specialised Exhibitions Montgomery to launch the Local Southern African Manufacturing Expo, which has, so far, received over 3 700 pre-registrations. The exhibition, which will be held at the Johannesburg Expo Centre from [...]

Transnet acting CE Mohammed Mahomedy continued his testimony at the Zondo commission of inquiry into State capture on Thursday, further detailing how the State-owned entity was bleeding billions of rands as a result of irregular contracts and interest rate swaps. Mahomedy told the commission about three contracts with China South Rail (CSR) that were entered [...]

The $62-million smelter at Unki Mine’s existing complex is a strategic investment, which meets local beneficiation commitments, Anglo American Platinum said on Thursday, when it opened the completed installation at a ceremony in Shurugwi, Zimbabwe. The smelter investment is indicative of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company’s long-term commitment to the landlocked south-central African republic.

A diamond mining company has filed a R29.9-billion claim against President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government as a near three-decade-long dispute over expropriated diamond mining rights in Lesotho reaches South African courts again. Josias van Zyl, MD of Swissbourgh Diamond Mining, is arguing that South Africa is liable to pay him damages for, among other [...]

The cost of corruption, globally, is estimated at $2.6-trillion a year, of which the private sector contributes about $515-billion a year, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr dispute resolution executive consultant Willem Janse van Rensburg said on Wednesday. “It constitutes a massive illegal and fraudulent tax on [not just] the private sector, but the poorest of the poor,” [...]