A countrywide water shortage is a decade away unless urgent action is taken to rehabilitate and preserve our rivers and catchment areas, fix and maintain crumbling infrastructure and implement water re-use, reports GroundUp. Without intervention, South Africa faces a deficit of about 3 000 billion litres of water per year by 2030, the Department of [...]

Specialty chemicals group AECI has achieved its highest ever profit from operations of nearly R2-billion for the year ended December 31, 2018. This was 27% higher than the R1.58-billion profit from operations achieved in 2017.

Real estate investment trust (Reit) Texton Property Fund has secured a long-term lease renewal with clothing retailer Truworths for its prominent high street shop in central Durban, which is one of the group’s biggest stores in South Africa. Truworths has renewed its lease over 5 000 m2 of retail space in a six-storey mixed-use building [...]

Mining and marketing company Assore on Tuesday reported 20% higher headline earnings to R2.92-billion in the six months to December 31, buoyed by an improved price basket and weaker exchange rate countering inland logistics difficulties on certain product lines. Assore's jointly controlled Assmang recorded headline earnings of R4.29-billion, an increase of 23% on a 100% [...]

South Africa on Monday joined a growing number of States in submitting its Instrument of Ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to the United Nations (UN) in New York. The treaty was adopted after 122 States voted in favour of it at the UN on July 7, 2017.

Amid a downturn in new-vehicle sales and a challenging economy, JSE-listed automotive holding company Motus achieved consistent operating profit, normalised headline earnings per share (HEPS) and revenue growth for the six months ended December 31, 2018, compared with the six months ended December 31, 2017. The company’s revenue remained stable at about R39-billion. Operating profit [...]

JSE-listed mobility solutions company Super Group successfully navigated a challenging economic climate and political uncertainties during the six months ended December 31, 2018, reporting a 13% increase in operating profit to R1.29-billion, compared with R1.14-billion for the six months ended December 31, 2017. This resulted in the group’s operating profit margin improving from 6.4% to [...]

The Mtentu bridge will be built, but when this will happen is not yet certain, says South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) engineering executive Louw Kannemeyer. The Aveng Strabag joint venture (ASJV) in early February terminated the R1.6-billion bridge contract, in the Eastern Cape.

Chemicals and energy group Sasol confirmed on Monday that its asset review was at an advanced stage and indicated that it would, in the coming months, accelerate efforts to simplify its portfolio. The group has indicated previously that it expects to realise more than $1-billion from the disposal of noncore assets, but has, to date, [...]

Gold mining company Barrick on Monday announced that it had made a proposal to the Newmont board of directors to merge with Newmont in an all-share transaction, saying a combination of the two companies would form the world’s best gold company with unprecedented potential for value creation. Barrick president and CEO Dr Mark Bristow said [...]

Kenya's KenGen on Monday said it secured a multimillion-shilling contract to provide geothermal drilling services to State-run Ethiopian Electric Power. The power producer's contract with East Africa's largest power producing company is being funded by the World Bank through a loan to the Ethiopian government for 7.6-billion shillings ($76.8-million), KenGen said in a statement.

Deputy Finance Minister Mondli Gungubele, who is also chairperson of the Public Investment Corporation's board, on Monday arrived at the public inquiry chaired by former Supreme Court of Appeal Justice Lex Mpati to give evidence before the probe set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa. At 10am, Mpati resumed the public hearings with a call for [...]