Latest news with #R1.7bn
IOL News
3 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Funding crisis looms for SA Post Office and Post Bank as rescue practitioners prepare to exit
The National Treasury firmly ruled itself out as an option to recapitalise SAPO. Image: Supplied Uncertainty surrounds the funding of about R7 billion needed to recapitalise both the South African Post Office (SAPO) and the Post Bank after National Treasury firmly ruled itself out as an option. This comes as the SAPO Business Rescue Practitioners prepare to exit the process, leaving the entity with a R1.7bn paper profit. During a briefing to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Digital Technologies and Communications on Tuesday, SAPO's group acting CEO, Fathima Gany, expressed the urgency of the situation. Gany said SAPO required R3.8bn to efficiently run its extensive network of 657 branches while integrating necessary digitisation capabilities. "The magic number is R3.8bn. It could be anything else, unfortunately the fiscus doesn't have the ability to give us that and we have to appreciate that. How do we get SAPO fit for business to operate in this futuristic space that's digitalised?" Gany said. "We don't know what the funding model will be as we go out to the market. It has to be a hybrid because if it's not a hybrid and we turn only to the fiscus and the answer is no, then its a futile discussion on how to get SAPO ready for business." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Gany said the Post Office had settled all historical and outstanding debt through the business rescue process in a compromise that saw 12 cents to the rand paid out to the creditors, with the remainder flushed into the profit and loss account. She said SAPO looked like it made profits but those were none cash profits, and they were on the back of expenses while there were some creditors in dispute and immaterial amount. Gany said SAPO was close to finalising a service-level agreement with the Post Bank in the services it delivers to it, and some of the commercial revenue streams envisaged from postal branches. Meanwhile, Post Bank acting CEO Nikki Mbengashe said it was unclear how the bank could structure the at least R3bn required for it to serve the identified niche. Mbengashe said one of the options was to obtain guarantees from the National Treasury to enable the bank to raise funding without necessarily diluting the shareholding. "How much funding do we need? A lot if we really want to build branches, if we want to build digital presence. We don't have ATMs, branches and the infrastructure we need to have to provide digital capabilities," Mbengashe said. "The minimum is R3bn. We have done that exercise, we are engaging with the board in our next meeting. We have no intention of privatising the Post Bank, but we do need funding therefore we need to find options. We have gone to the National Treasury three times and three times the National Treasury has said no." Cape Argus
IOL News
3 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
SA Post Office, Post Bank face R7bn funding crisis as rescue practitioners prepare exit
This comes as the SAPO Business Rescue Practitioners prepare to exit the process, leaving the entity with a R1.7bn paper profit. Image: Independent Newspapers Archives Banele Ginidza Uncertainty surrounds the funding of about R7 billion needed to recapitalise both the South African Post Office (SAPO) and the Post Bank after National Treasury firmly ruled itself out as an option. This comes as the SAPO Business Rescue Practitioners prepare to exit the process, leaving the entity with a R1.7bn paper profit. During a briefing to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Digital Technologies and Communications on Tueaday, SAPO's Group acting CEO, Fathima Gany, expressed the urgency of the situation. Gany said SAPO required R3.8bn to efficiently run its extensive network of 657 branches while integrating necessary digitisation capabilities. "The magic number is R3.8bn. It could be anything else, unfortunately the fiscus doesn't have the ability to give us that and we have to appreciate that. How do we get SAPO fit for business to operate in this futuristic space that's digitalised?" Gany said. "We don't know what the funding model will be as we go out to the market. It has to be a hybrid because if it's not a hybrid and we turn only to the fiscus and the answer is no, then its a futile discussion on how to get SAPO ready for business." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Gany said the Post Office had settled all historical and outstanding debt through the business rescue process in a compromise that saw 12 cents to the rand paid out to the creditiors, with the remainder flushed into the profit and loss account. She said SAPO looked like it made profits but those were none cash profits, and they were on the back of expenses while there were some creditors in dispute and immaterial amount. Gany said SAPO was close to finalising a service-level agreement with the Post Bank in the services it delivers to it, and some of the commercial revenue streams envisaged from postal branches. Meanwhile, Post Bank acting CEO Nikki Mbengashe said it was unclear how the bank could structure the at least R3bn required for it to serve the identified niche. Mbengashe said one of the options was to obtain guarantees from the National Treasury to enable the bank to raise funding without necessarily diluting the shareholding. "How much funding do we need? A lot if we really want to build branches, if we want to build digital presence. We dont have ATMs, branches and the infrastructure we need to have to provide digital capabilities," Mbengashe said. "The minimum is R3bn. We have done that exercise, we are engaging with the board in our next meeting. We have no intention of privatising the Post Bank, but we do need funding therefore we need to find options. We have gone to the National Treasury three times and three times the National Treasury has said no."
IOL News
10-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Omina Holdings increases dividend pay out despite setbacks in agriculture division
The diversified company, propelled by its mining sector which is seeing new orders for its regional markets on the back of a rebound in copper and battery metals, achieved robust results and delivered bumper dividends. Image: Supplied Tawanda Karombo Omnia Holdings delivered a resilient performance for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025 despite set backs in the agriculture division, which was impacted by currency issues in Zimbabwe, drought in Zambia, and the civil unrest in Mozambique. The diversified company, propelled by its mining sector which is seeing new orders for its regional markets on the back of a rebound in copper and battery metals, achieved robust results and delivered bumper dividends. 'The agri business Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique didn't perform well,' Seelan Gobalsamy, CEO of Omnia told Business Report in an interview. 'Zimbabwe had the usual currency issues and a lot of uncertainty (and) we had some regulatory challenges and in Zambia, we saw a massive drought that impacted revenue.' The unrest that rocked Mozambique in 2024 and early into this year also affected Omnia. The company had to send products via Namibia into Zambia as routes through Mozambique were disturbed by the unrest, impacting working capital and profits negatively. With strong performance from Agriculture RSA and mining segment, Omnia's revenues for the year to the end of March grew 2.7% to R22.82 billion. Mining has emerged as Omnia's strongest business from an outdoor projective. 'There is still a strong demand for metals, you know, the metals that drive that transition to cleanar energy, you know, the battery metals, uranium. So we are positively disposed to the mining market and we are winning new customers, renewing new customers,' explained Gobalsamy. Headline earnings per share increased by 1% to 704 cents, while operating profit remained unchanged at R1.7bn despite the inclusion of the Chemicals restructuring costs, along with the impact of severe drought conditions and currency depreciation in Agriculture Rest of Africa. The Mining segment delivered an improved operating margin of 12.4% from 12.1%, supported by strong performance from Mining RSA and Mining International, as well as higher throughput and efficiencies. In the mining sector, sustained demand for critical minerals supporting the global energy transition, underpinned exploration activity and supported positive fundamentals for the explosives market. However, geopolitical tensions and trade policy uncertainty presented ongoing risks. The group had a net cash balance of R1.77bn was down from R2.3bn. The board declared a total dividend of 675 cents per share for the year. This comprises an increased ordinary dividend of 400 cents, from 375 cents the prior year, and a special dividend of 275 cents per share, returning R1.1bn to shareholders. "Despite persistent macroeconomic headwinds, Omnia delivered sustained profitability and continued to create long-term value for shareholders. This performance reflects the strength, quality, and growing diversity of our portfolio, underpinned by a sharpened focus on manufacturing efficiency, supply chain resilience, and customer-driven innovation," Gobalsamy said "The increased ordinary dividend payout, and special dividend declared is a clear signal of our confidence in the sustainability of our earnings and the successful execution of our growth and diversification strategy."
TimesLIVE
10-06-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
USAID cuts threaten ‘God's food' made in Georgia for children in need
Reaching into one of the giant white sacks piled up in his Georgia food-processing plant, Mark Moore pulls out a fistful of shelled peanuts, what he calls 'God's food', and lets them roll through his fingers. A former evangelical missionary, Moore is co-founder of Mana Nutrition, a US nonprofit that said it has fed 10-million children across the globe since 2010 with packets of peanut butter paste made in the small farming community of Fitzgerald, about 290km south of Atlanta. 'This saves children,' said Moore, 58, clutching a bunch of the protein-rich legumes. 'It's not an overstatement: We defeat death.' Mana is in the midst of its own struggle for survival. Deep cuts in federal programmes targeting international aid programmes under President Donald Trump have threatened to choke the financial lifeline that has allowed the nonprofit to carry out its life-saving mission. Since January, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), created during the height of the Cold War by then-President John F Kennedy, has been dismantled by the department of government efficiency, Trump's cost-cutting entity led until recently by billionaire Elon Musk. In announcing the termination of its contracts, which accounted for about 90% of Mana's $100m (R1.7bn) annual budget, the department of government efficiency sent a letter to the nonprofit saying its work was 'not aligned with agency priorities'. Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the state department, which oversees USAID, have been unsuccessful. In two terse letters sent to Mana and reviewed by Reuters, USAID offered no specific reasons for the terminations other than to say the work 'was not in the national interest'. Mana has enough money to keep running through to August at the most, Moore said, but he seemed unshakeable in his optimism about the future of its mission.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SPAR Group sees EPS dip despite steady H1 2025 revenue growth
Multinational South Africa-based retail chain SPAR Group's operational performance during the first half (H1) of fiscal 2025 (FY25) has shown mixed results across different regions, with headline earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations dipping slightly by 0.4% to 450.1 cents. Revenue from ongoing operations held steady at R66.1bn ($3.72bn), with gross profit climbing to R7.1bn. Operating profit experienced a modest rise of 1.6%, reaching R1.5bn, bolstered by enhanced cost management efforts. The group's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also saw an uptick of 1.7%, amounting to R1.7bn. SPAR Group made headway on its strategic objectives amidst a tough market environment, focusing on five critical areas: exiting Poland, restructuring debt within the group, conducting a strategic review of European operations, expanding the implementation of SAP [systems, application and data processing], and targeting an improvement in southern Africa EBIT margin to 3%, alongside achieving a leverage ratio between 1.5 and 2.0 times by fiscal year-end 2026. During the first half of 2025, the group achieved three of these goals: finalising the sale of SPAR Poland in January, completing debt restructuring in March, and announcing plans in May to divest its Swiss operations as well as AWG in the UK after thorough strategic evaluation and consideration of capital allocation priorities and long-term strategic direction. The group is in advanced negotiations with potential buyers for these businesses. SPAR Switzerland and AWG have been classified as discontinued operations, with post-tax losses including impairments amounting to R4.4bn. The board believes that the divestments are consistent with SPAR's strategy to concentrate on strengthening its core businesses in Southern Africa and Ireland. Cash generation from total operations significantly increased 50.1% to R1.9bn. In Southern Africa, the group's wholesale turnover increased 1.7%, with its grocery and liquor segments contributing to this growth. Retail revenue in the region also saw an increase of 1.9%. The SPAR2U app's delivery volumes surged 174%, demonstrating the brand's growing on-demand presence. Build it, the group's building materials retail brand, posted a sales increase of 4.1% with strong like-for-like retail growth. In Ireland, despite a marginal local currency revenue decrease, the gross margin benefited from a favourable product mix. The minimum wage increase, however, led to higher labour costs. No interim dividend has been declared for the period, with future considerations dependent on macroeconomic and operating conditions. Looking forward, SPAR Group is concentrating on margin improvement and operational execution in its core markets. In southern Africa, SPAR aims to enhance retail segments and operational efficiencies, with initiatives such as expanding on-demand services and increasing private label product penetration. In Ireland, SPAR Group subsidiary BWG Group, a food retail and wholesale distribution company, is focusing on growing its convenience retail brands and exploring new opportunities. "SPAR Group sees EPS dip despite steady H1 2025 revenue growth" was originally created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
