Greencoat Renewables eyes AltX lift; Tariffs tear into Honda's profits
European energy infrastructure group Greencoat Renewables announced it is in the process of applying for a secondary listing on the JSE's AltX as it looks to diversify its shareholder base, enhance its liquidity, and eyes possible expansion. The group will remain on the Alternative Investment Market in London and the Euronext Growth Market in Dublin, where it is valued at just under €850 million (about R17 billion). It was founded in 2009 and currently has fund mandates with strategies investing in bioenergy, renewable heat, solar, and wind energy infrastructure in the UK, Europe, and the US. 'The cash-generative qualities of our assets, combined with our intensive approach to asset management, delivers euro-denominated returns that we think will be attractive to the South African investment community,' said European CFO Diarmuid Kelly in a statement. 'Having met our dividend targets every year since inception and with a highly contracted portfolio providing strong visibility on future cashflows, we believe we are well positioned going forward.'
Logistics group Grindrod announced it had commenced exiting its 50% investment in the marine fuel trading business Cockett Group and Cockett Marine South Africa which will proceed with a solvent wind-down - which refers to closing a company which is financially stable. This followed the execution of a framework agreement entered into between the Cockett shareholders, which became fully effective on 8 May, when Grindrod received $22 million (R405 million). Cockett was the only material asset remaining in Grindrod's non-core asset portfolio, and the group said the business will continue to fulfil all its existing contractual obligations to both suppliers and customers in a timely manner.
ICT group Altron, an IT services company and the owner of vehicle tracker Netstar, flagged a climb of up to 75% in continuing headline earnings per share for its year to end February, while total headline earnings per share are expected to be as much as 136c, from a loss of 25c previously. The group didn't go into details, but it had seen a headline loss of R93 million in the prior year when it was hit by writedowns, including for its Altron Nexus business due to the loss of a Gauteng Broadband Network contract.
UK and Ireland-focused ICT firm Bytes Technology, which was spun out of Altron in 2020, announced a 15% rise in its final dividend to 6.9p (£16.6 million or R401 million) per share and a similar climb in its special dividend to 10p (£24.1 million) for its year to end February. Gross invoiced income also climbed 15% and breached £2 billion for the first time, with the reporting of sustained demand for its software and services. 'Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, we have not only deepened our relationships with existing clients - securing a greater share of their IT spend - but also successfully expanded our footprint across both public and corporate sectors,' CEO Sam Mudd said in the results.
Micro-cap Ah-Vest, which produces sauces and condiments under the All Joy Brand, warned shareholders that its holding company, Eastern Trading, has expressed interest in acquiring the shares of the group it doesn't already own. Accordingly, an independent board has been appointed to commence formal discussions. Eastern Trading held just over 72% of the company as of its 2024 year while the group is valued at just over R3 million on the JSE.
The Competition Tribunal said on Tuesday it has approved Old Mutual Corporate Ventures' (OMCV) planned acquisition of a stake in Fairheads Benefit Services (FBS) and Fairheads Financial Services (FFS). Once the proposed transaction has been completed the two target firms will be controlled by OMCV and Vunani Capital. OMCV manages beneficiary and unclaimed benefit funds solely from its own retirement products. It outsources some of this administration to FBS and FFS, both of which are currently controlled by Vunani. FBS administers beneficiary and unclaimed benefit funds and FFS provides tracing services to FBS to locate and contact beneficiaries.
Exxaro Resources, one of Eskom's largest coal suppliers, will expand into manganese through a multibillion-rand deal to acquire select assets, including more than 60% of South Africa's largest manganese mine. Exxaro on Tuesday announced it has entered into two separate agreements with Ntsimbintle Holdings and OMH Mauritius to effectively acquire their stakes in the Tshipi Borwa Mine - South Africa's largest manganese mine in terms of export volumes and amongst the largest manganese mines in the world. Through the acquisition Exxaro gains exposure into four operating mines, which includes a 60% effective ownership in Tshipi Borwa Mine, 51% in the Mokala manganese mine - which is operated by a Glencore subsidiary – and 9% in Hotazel Manganese Mines, which operates Mamatwan and Wessels mines. The unadjusted purchase price is R11.67 billion, although the structure of the deal allows for this to ratchet up to R14.64 billion, in the event that Glencore's Blue Falcon chooses to exercise certain pre-emptive rights.
Landlord Octodec said on Tuesday that despite a weak SA economy, it is confident enough to up its dividend, citing a pickup in office activity and continued resilience of the Johannesburg and Tshwane CBDs. Octodec reported on Tuesday that distributable earnings edged up 1% to R221.7 million in the six months to end February, when collection rates rose and its core vacancies - excluding properties held for redevelopment - improved to 14.7% from 15.9%.Vacancy rates have been elevated by the strain from the result of a deadly gas explosion on Lilian Ngoyi Street in 2023, which has hit foot traffic in the area as well as put pressure on letting. Octodec said that there is still interest in these properties from national retailers and says there are signs of progress in the repairs, and it upped its interim dividend by 3.3% to 62c per share, about R165 million.
SA's biggest short-term insurer Santam reported that it saw strong performance in the three months to end March, its first quarter, managing to exceed its targets for key performance indicators. Particularly pleasing was a double-digit growth in gross written premiums, an underwriting margin above the upper end of the 5% to 10% target range and annualised return on capital in excess of 30%, it said. The conventional insurance business achieved gross written premium growth of 11%, with solid contributions from all businesses, it said, with a highlight including double-digit growth at MiWay. Favourable interest-rate market returns and an outperformance of benchmarks by Santam's investment managers supported investment return earned on insurance funds, it said, which amounted to 2.5% of net earned premium, slightly exceeding the comparable period.
Global business
Japan's Honda Motor on Tuesday forecast a 70% drop in net profit for the 2025/26 financial year as US trade tariffs weigh on the global auto industry. The announcement comes after rival Toyota, the world's top-selling carmaker, predicted a 35% year-on-year drop in annual net profit because of the levies and other factors. Honda said it expected net profit of 250 billion yen (R31 billion) in the 12 months to March 2026. 'Tariff impact and recovery efforts' will have a negative effect on operating profit, it warned, estimating they will cost the company around 450 billion yen over the year. In an attempt to rev up the US auto industry, President Donald Trump last month imposed a 25% toll on imported vehicles, dealing a major blow to Japanese carmakers. 'The impact of tariff policies in various countries on our business has been very significant, and frequent revisions are being made, making it difficult to formulate an outlook,' CEO Toshihiro Mibe told reporters Tuesday. Mibe said Honda would examine the impact of US tariffs on supply chains and 'carefully' make any decisions on pricing changes. - AFP
Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group, a major player in the US Stargate artificial intelligence drive, on Tuesday posted a bumper annual net profit of $7.8 billion (R143 billion), its first in the black for four years. The 1.15 trillion-yen net profit for the 12 months to March 2025 was up from a net loss of 227 billion yen in the previous financial year. The company's earnings often swing dramatically because it invests heavily in tech start-ups and semiconductor firms, whose share prices are volatile. Tuesday's result marked its first full-year net profit since the 2020-21 financial year. SoftBank has been actively investing in AI in recent years under its flamboyant founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who has repeatedly said 'artificial superintelligence' will arrive in a decade - bringing new inventions, medicine, knowledge and ways to invest. The company is leading the $500 billion Stargate project to build AI infrastructure in the United States along with cloud giant Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. - AFP
International travel spending in the United States is expected to decline about 7%, or $12.5 billion (R229 billion), in 2025 as politics and a strong dollar prompt foreign visitors to opt for other destinations, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. International travelers are shunning US vacations due to unpopular policies from the administration of President Donald Trump, fear of being stopped at the border and an unfavorable exchange rate, said Julia Simpson, CEO of the WTTC, an organization representing the travel industry's private sector. 'Of 184 countries, the US is the only one that's seeing an absolute decline in international visitor spending,' Simpson said. 'The US is definitely losing its crown in this area.' The US is the largest travel and tourism economy globally, she said. However, international visitor spending in the country is projected to fall under $169 billion this year, down from $181 billion in 2024 and 22% below its previous peak in 2019. - Reuters
The United States will cut the low value 'de minimis' tariff on China shipments, a White House executive order said on Monday, further de-escalating a potentially damaging trade war between the world's two largest economies. The tariff relief comes in the wake of Beijing and Washington announcing a truce in their trade spat after weekend talks in Geneva, with both sides agreeing to unwind most of the tariffs imposed on each other's goods since early April. While their joint statement in Geneva didn't mention the de minimis duties, the White House order released later said the levies will be reduced to 54% from 120%, with a flat fee of $100 (R1 830) to remain, starting from May 14.The de minimis exemption, for items valued at up to $800 and sent from China via postal services, were previously able to enter the United States duty free and with minimal inspections. In February, President Donald Trump ended the de minimis exemption by imposing a tax of 120% of the package's value or a planned flat fee of $200 - set to come into effect by June - blaming it for being heavily used by companies such as Shein, Temu and other e-commerce firms as well as traffickers of fentanyl and other illicit goods. The number of shipments entering the US through the tax-free channel exploded in recent years with more than 90% of all packages coming via de minimis. Of those, about 60% came from China, led by direct-to-consumer retailers such as Temu and Shein. Chinese online retailers Shein, PDD Holdings-owned Temu and US rival Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. - Reuters
46.1%
In the first quarter of 2015, the official unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 34 was 36.9%. Ten years on, that figure had climbed to 46.1% - a 9.2 percentage point increase that highlights deteriorating prospects for millions, Statistics SA said on Tuesday.
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All the while, the rest of the football industry has been rubbernecking in Newcastle's direction, empathising in some instances — Isak is not the first player to try to engineer an exit in this way — and sympathising in others, particularly in the case of one member of the recruitment staff who, it is felt, has been given something of a hospital pass. But there are also questions about how a club at this level could misjudge things so badly that they ended up, to borrow one phrase, 'shopping in the wrong supermarket'. Framed and filtered by a combination of their return to the Champions League this season and the specific requirements of head coach Eddie Howe, who attaches huge importance to Premier League experience, Newcastle drew up an ambitious list of transfer targets this summer to improve their squad. Their argument is that they want to be in the market for the best players. 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Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is Newcastle's majority owner, has taken an age to appoint a successor to the outgoing chief executive Darren Eales, while Paul Mitchell's decision to step down as sporting director at the end of the season means there is nobody in that role either, let alone someone who could be described as 'strong and successful'. In the absence of Mitchell, Andy Howe, Eddie's nephew and the club's assistant head of recruitment, was given the job of overseeing incoming transfer business — cue that line above about people in football feeling sympathy for a man who is popular and well-respected for his eye for talent but, through no fault of his own, finds himself with a level of responsibility that is beyond his pay grade. As for the idea that Newcastle set their sights too high this window, it is clear that there is a mixture of frustration and annoyance within the club that they have wasted so much time and energy pursuing players who, in several instances, never had any intention of joining. Joao Pedro is a case in point — Newcastle were warned the Brazilian would not end up on Tyneside — and Sesko ticks that box as well. Ekitike arguably, too. 'Some you win, some you lose. But when you lose, you've got to move on quickly,' the sporting director quoted earlier adds. 'I think Newcastle have been naive.' Staff inside Newcastle predicted Sesko would end up at Old Trafford some time before he did, even before Manchester United's interest in the striker became public knowledge. At that stage, there was no expectation that Sesko would become an active target for Newcastle, even though there was long-term admiration for him. The feeling was that they had no chance and would be blown out of the water on all elements of any deal. Advertisement Ultimately, that did not stop Newcastle from trying to sign Sesko — and perhaps they had to roll the dice once Isak's future was thrown into doubt. There was nothing half-hearted about their approach to get the Slovenian either, even if they always suspected they were fighting a losing battle. Within the club, though, there was some unease that Newcastle were almost trying too hard to persuade and convince players to join. What happened to recruiting people who want to sign for Newcastle as much as Newcastle want to sign them? Bruno Guimaraes, for example. 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In many ways, the absence of a sporting director has made Eddie Howe more central to the process this summer, and a by-product of that is that the head coach will be judged on signings more than he would be if Mitchell, whose job was '90 per cent recruitment' according to Eales, was still in post. One Premier League executive says that he is hugely impressed with the way Howe is navigating what he describes as a 'leadership void' amid a backdrop of negative rumours. 'The one person who comes out of it with serious credit is Howe, because he has managed to keep it all together despite it all,' he says. Advertisement Nobody is pretending that any of this is straightforward, bearing in mind Howe wanted to strengthen a team and a squad that outperformed all but four Premier League clubs last season and won silverware too. The recruitment bar was set high in that respect and the pool of players was small. 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Arsenal (signing Christian Norgaard from Brentford), Chelsea (Joao Pedro from Brighton and Delap from Ipswich), Liverpool (Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth), Manchester City (Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Trafford from Burnley), and Manchester United (Mbeumo from Brentford and Matheus Cunha from Wolves) were clearing the shelves of the best talent at that level, as well as bringing in some A-list names along the way. One of those A-list players is Ekitike, a striker Newcastle had tried and failed to sign twice in the past. There was cautious optimism at Newcastle that they would finally get their man this time. Ekitike told Newcastle that he wanted to join them (for the record, so did others who ended up elsewhere this summer; you will not believe this, but players don't always tell the truth). 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