Author: Gugu Lourie

While new car sales got off to a stuttering start in 2024, it was a strong month for used car sales in January, which increased by 3% versus January 2023. That’s according to AutoTrader, which recorded 30,126 used cars that moved through the platform in the first month of 2024 – versus 29,233 in January 2023. In contrast, according to naamsa | The Automotive Business Council, 28,790 new passenger cars were sold in January this year – 6.7% less than the 30,863 new cars sold in January 2023. Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini-buses – at…

Ashburton Fund Managers (Pty) Ltd (AFM) has been fined R16 million by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for breaching certain provisions of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, No. 38 of 2001 (FIC Act). As a fully owned subsidiary of FirstRand, AFM operates as a licensed Financial Services Provider (FSP) under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, No. 37 of 2002 (FAIS Act), and serves as an accountable institution under the FIC Act. The FSCA oversees and enforces compliance with the FIC Act among FSPs. The FIC Act’s primary aim is to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and related…

Andile Ngcaba’s Solcon Capital and IFC have forged a groundbreaking collaboration, announced today. This strategic alliance aims to identify and foster investment opportunities within India and South Africa’s deep tech sector, driving forward the digital economies of these vibrant regions. Under this agreement, IFC and Solcon Capital will join forces to pinpoint and fund promising companies operating in the deep tech realm. The focus will be on key areas such as 5G, AI, IoT, big data, and cybersecurity. This partnership represents a harmonious fusion of IFC’s extensive expertise in private sector investment in emerging markets and Solcon Capital’s twenty years…

The Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) has mandated that the French broadcaster cANAL+ is required to issue a “mandatory offer” to shareholders of MultiChoice. On 1 February, Canal+ said it had offered R105/share for every MultiChoice share it did not already own. It said the offer — worth an estimated R31.7-billion, and representing a 40% premium to MultiChoice’s closing share price of R75 on 31 January. MultiChoice had earlier spurned the Canal+ offer and told its shareholders that they no longer had to exercise caution in trading in the group’s shares. Undeterred by the rejection, Canal+ — already the largest MultiChoice shareholder…

Sony has announced on Tuesday that it will be laying off approximately 900 employees within its PlayStation division. The company said it plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8%. “The PlayStation community means everything to us, so I felt it was important to update you on a difficult day at our company. We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes. Employees across the globe, including our studios, are…

Sasfin Holdings, a financial services firm, announced on Tuesday that its banking division had been served with a civil summons from the South African Revenue Service (SARS), demanding a total of R4.87 billion plus interest and costs. The summons, presented as a damages claim, alleges Sasfin’s failure to recover income tax, VAT, and penalties from former clients of its banking arm, a claim vehemently refuted by the company. “This summons relates to Sars’ purported inability to collect income tax, value-added tax and penalties allegedly owed by former foreign exchange clients of the bank,” Sasfin said in an announcement on the…

Thabo Mngomezulu, a fellow hailing from South Africa, whose initiative converts waste into biogas to address the energy needs of rural communities, will present in Stuttgart at the beVisioneers: Mercedes-Benz Fellowship Global Summit. The summit start from February 26th to 28th, consisting of a collective of 50 young eco-innovators, aged between 16 and 28, alongside environmental experts, business magnates, investors, scholars, and governmental representatives for the inaugural beVisioneers Global Summit. This yearly gathering stems from the vision of beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship, a program tailored to nurture young eco-innovators by equipping them with training, mentorship, expert guidance, and resources essential…

Government has raised $3.3 billion so far from Multilateral Development Banks and International Finance Institutions to support climate change, energy, and just transition objectives. Delivering the 2024 National Budget Speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said National Treasury plays a crucial role in mobilising resources, designing incentives, and influencing policy to mainstream climate change. “As climate-related disasters intensify, a multi-layered risk-based approach is being developed to manage the associated fiscal risks.  This considers various funding instruments from grants to contingency funds, including the Climate Change Response Fund, depending on the incidence and intensity of the disaster event. “The National Treasury is…

Social grants are expected to increase to keep in line with inflation and increase access for those who are eligible. This does not include the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD Grant) also known as the R350 grant. This was announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana during the Budget Speech delivered in Cape Town on Wednesday. “We are sensitive to the increase in the cost of living for the nearly 19 million South Africans who rely on these grants to make ends meet. In this regard, we have done as much as the fiscal envelope allows,” he said. The increases…

The Special Tribunal has ruled that the allocation of a R113 million personal protective equipment (PPE) contract to LNG Scientific was both invalid and unlawful. This Centurion-based company secured the tender from the Gauteng department of health during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. In a default judgment handed down on 7 February 2024, the Tribunal ordered that LNG be divested of all profits enjoyed under the invalid contract. LNG is owned by Letloega Thabiso Lekoana. LNG was ordered to submit audited statements within 30 days setting out its income and expenses in relation to the PPE items…