Author: Gugu Lourie

Capitec Bank rewards shareholders with an interim dividend of 1,400 cents a share for the six months to end-August 2022, as the bank signs up 165 000 new customers a month for the past year. The bank informed investors today that directors resolved that a gross interim dividend of 1,400 cents per ordinary share be declared for the 6 months ended 31 August 2022  versus 1,200 cents a share on 31 August 2021. There are 116 099 843 ordinary shares in issue. The banking group added that on average, over 165 000 new clients have joined the bank every month…

BMW has unveiled the BMW XM, the first M car to deploy a plug-in hybrid system comprising a V8 petrol engine and an exceptionally powerful electric motor. The BMW XM is also the first BMW M original since the BMW M1. Production of the BMW XM will get underway at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in the USA in December 2022 before it arrives at dealers worldwide in spring 2023. The M HYBRID drive system in the BMW XM delivers an overall output of 480 kW (generated by the combination of the combustion engine with up to 360 kW and the…

Vodacom in Johannesburg stole the show in terms of being the fastest mobile operator across 12 African cities, a report by speed test service Ookla revealed on Monday. Ookla said Johannesburg led the pack, with a median download speed of 66.54 Mbps, ahead of Cape Town at 49.22 Mbps. Vodacom got ahead of MTN in Johannesburg and was the fastest operator across 12 cities we analysed, with a median download speed of 81.36 Mbps in Q2 2022 compared to 73.83 Mbps in Q1 2022. MTN was faster in Cape Town. “Taking 5G out of the equation, Orange in Gaborone, the…

New research from credible network speed-testing services Ookla has put MTN ahead of rivals – Airtel, Orange, and Vodacom – in terms of the speed available on their respective network. The report by Ookla revealed that MTN was the fastest mobile operator among the top four providers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Speedtest Intelligence data shows that MTN South Africa delivered the fastest median download speeds across analyzed operators, at 65.95 Mbps in Q2 2022. However, Vodacom in Johannesburg was the fastest operator considering speeds across top cities, reaching 81.36 Mbps median download speed in Q2 2022. In South Africa, MTN outperformed Vodacom…

Mteto Nyati has been appointed as an independent non-executive director and Nedbank’s IT Committee member. His appointment is effective from 1 October 2022. Nedbank informed investors that Nyati’s appointment has been made in terms of the group’s policy on the nomination and appointment of directors. Mteto is Chairman of Wazo Investments, and a non-executive director of Telkom. Previous roles include being Chief Executive at Altron, Chief Executive of MTN South Africa, and Managing Director of Microsoft South Africa. He was named one of the Yale University’s World Fellows on Global Leadership in 2004. Mpho Makwana, Chairman of Nedbank Group, welcomed…

Brazilian FinTech company Ebanx is expanding its operations and payments solutions outside Latin America. The company said in a statement that it has started operations in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria in late August amid soaring demand for payments via mobile phones in recent years. Ebanx believes Africa is the next big growth frontier for digital payments and the digital market during the 2020s. Ebanx solutions in the Africa region will contemplate popular local payment methods including:   In South Africa: Instant EFT by OZOW, lets online shoppers access internet banking to make an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) that gets instantly…

Attacq, the JSE-listed REIT developing Waterfall City, today announced the resumption of dividends of 50.0 cents per share for the year to end-June 2022, representing a pay-out ratio of 80%, as well as an increase in distributable income per share by 34.2% to 62.8 cents. Attacq said its performance was particularly satisfying in the context of South Africa’s record unemployment levels and low-growth environment, and emphasised the underlying quality of the portfolio, characterised by continued growth in the burgeoning mixed-use Waterfall City precinct, which continues to attract quality local and global blue-chip corporate clients. “During the past year, we emerged…

TYMEBANK, one of South Africa’s digital banks, has attracted 5 million customers as of 30 June 2022. The digital bank owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe was launched in February 2019. “While progress continues to be made on customer acquisitions, the bank is placing increased focus on tracking customer activity and ensuring new product rollouts,” African Raibow Capital Investments informed investors today. “The bank is continuously adapting its product set to reflect the changing needs of customers, which includes diversifying the customer base.” TymeBank has no monthly banking fees and in most cases, transaction costs are 30 to 50% lower than what customers would pay…

Eskom said this morning that three units at the Kendal Power Station tripped, forcing the power utility to implement stage 4 load shedding. Eskom said state 4 load shedding will start at 10am until 5am on Thursday. The power utility tweeted this morning: #Loadshedding #Stage4 A sudden tripping of three Kendal Power Station units (1 920MW maximum generating capacity) has forced the implementation of Stage 4 loadshedding starting at 10:00 THIS morning until 05:00 on Thursday morning. A full statement will be published shortly — Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 13, 2022 “In the early hours of…

Strong bi-national relationships between Nigeria and South Africa are critical for Africa’s progress,” said MTN Group Chairman Mcebisi Jonas. This week, MTN Group hosted MTN Nigeria’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee in Johannesburg for a strategy retreat during which the leadership of the Group’s largest subsidiary reflected on its strategic priorities for the next three years. “As MTN, we appreciate that our own progress cannot happen without the two nations building stronger and stronger ties and providing leadership to the continent,” said Jonas. The MTN Nigeria delegation was led by Chairman Ernest Ndukwe and CEO Karl Toriola. During the trip,…