Africa

South African Airways said it’s waiting for the government to tell it whether it will provide the national carrier with the money needed to keep flying, rendering it unable to publish its results for the year through March, Bloomberg News reported. “SAA cannot finalize its annual financial statements within the prescribed time until the going concern status is confirmed,” the carrier said in a document submitted to lawmakers on Monday and circulated by the main opposition Democratic Alliance.

Speculation that South African Airways is in danger of going under could become self-fulfilling. The national carrier has been given 57 billion rand ($3.9 billion) in bailouts since 1994 and last made a profit in 2011, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s already precarious finances took another hit last month when workers staged a week-long strike that grounded a number of flights, and customers have canceled bookings on others.

The government’s plan to unbundle Eskom into three separate companies focusing on generation, transmission and supply under a holding company, and sell old power stations, does nothing to solve the utility’s main problem, Business Day reported in a commentary. To understand that problem one needs to appreciate the existing electricity market design and government funding of state-owned companies. In SA the electricity market design means power is generated, transmitted and distributed by a vertically integrated monopoly.

Ncondezi Energy Limited has received support “in principle” for a restructuring of an outstanding US$4.3mln loan plus interest, Proactive reported. The restructuring involves a 12-month extension on existing terms, including 12% annual interest rate and the ability for lenders to swap debt for equity in part or in full at a conversion price of 10p per share. Ncondezi can also nominate to pay the loan off through the issue of shares at a 25% to 30% premium to the 30-day average price. Half of the amount owed is to Ncondzei’s largest shareholder while 45% is held by the board and management.

Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) smelter could restart next week after a delay of around a fortnight, mines minister Richard Masukwa told Reuters. The smelter was shut down in early October for annual maintenance, two days earlier than planned due to a leak, Reuters reported. It was initially scheduled to reopen on Nov. 15. “This week we are testing and I hope that next week (the smelter) will be up and running,” Masukwa said on the sidelines of the London Mines and Money conference.

Nigerians are set to become poorer for the fourth year in a row, with economic growth, estimated by the IMF at 2.3 per cent, undershooting the 2.6 per cent increase in population, the Financial Times reported. The fund does not see this scenario reversing before 2022, a grim prospect for the 200m people in a country whose gross domestic product per head is a little over $2,000. Despite lower global prices, the oil sector has made modest progress this year. Production is up thanks to the Egina oilfield coming on line and fewer acts of sabotage by militants in the Niger Delta.

Weak UK banking and wealth management performances dragged on Investec’s first-half profit, piling pressure on the Anglo-South African financial services firm’s shares, Reuters reported. Investec said on Thursday the spin-off of its asset management division next year was on track, a plan that will leave it with just banking and wealth management operations. Shares in Investec are down by almost 10% following a profit warning in September, and were around 2.5% lower in both London and Johannesburg by 0823 GMT.

South African investment firm RMB Holdings (RMH) said on Tuesday it planned to distribute among shareholders its stake in lender FirstRand , worth about 130 billion rand ($8.8 billion), as part of a restructuring, Reuters reported. RMH has an almost three-decade history of investing in financial services, and FirstRand was born out of the group. It is the bank’s largest shareholder with a 34% stake. RMH’s largest investor, Remgro Ltd, has an almost 4% stake in FirstRand.

Steinhoff International said on Monday its Australasian subsidiary Greenlit Brands sold its general merchandise division to Allegro Funds, as the South African retailer grapples with the fallout of an accounting scandal worth about $7 billion, Reuters reported. Steinhoff had said in August its only way to survive was to slim down and sell its assets. “The sale of Greenlit Brands General Merchandise division is a further step in Steinhoff’s programme of planned divestments,” Louis du Preez, Steinhoff Group CEO said.

South Africa’s government has appointed packaging firm chief executive Andre de Ruyter as the new head of Eskom and tasked him with restructuring the heavily indebted state utility whose power plants are struggling to keep the nation’s lights on, Reuters reported. Investor worries about South Africa’s economy have been reignited after repeated power cuts in February and March dragged growth into negative territory in the first quarter. The Ministry of Public Enterprises said de Ruyter, chief executive of Nampak, would start at Eskom on Jan.