Author: Gugu Lourie

Media group Media24 announced on Thursday plans to buy out all shareholders of Welkom Yizani, its black economic empowerment share scheme.  The media group is proposing to pay R15.70 per Welkom Yizani ordinary share. The proposal is subject to the approval of Welkom Yizani shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for 22 January 2021. Investors paid in a subscription of R10.00 per share at the establishment of the scheme in 2006. Then scheme’s shares were listed for trading on an over the counter platform on 9 December 2013. The shares were stuck at R10.00 for more than a year and…

Vodacom announced on Wednesday that pre-orders for new Apple iPhone 12 family, including iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12, and iPhone 12 mini are set to begin on Friday, 11 December. The sales of the iPhones  is set to start on Friday, 18 December 2020. “Vodacom is excited to soon offer the eagerly anticipated new iPhone 12 family, including iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12, and iPhone 12 mini,” the Vodafone-owned company said in a statement. The newly designed iPhone 12 models feature expansive edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR displays for a brighter, more immersive viewing experience,…

South Africa’s private equity firm Ethos announced on Wednesday that it has sold its 1.4% stake in FinTech player Channel VAS. The company said it has has sold a 1.4% stake in Channel VAS at a consideration of $5 million (R76.6 million). “In line with the Board’s stated strategy of optimising capital allocation and enhancing shareholder value, Ethos Capital has sold a 1.4% stake in Channel VAS at a consideration of US$5 million (R76.6 million),” the company said. “The sale consideration has valued Ethos Capital’s stake in Channel VAS at $36.7 million (a 16% premium to the valuation as at…

South African FinTech group Capital Appreciation Limited (Capprec) today delivered strong growth for the six months ended 30 September 2020 boosted by ongoing acceleration in digital transformation and electronic payments. Capprec said on Wednesday revenue grew by 15% to R323.7 million and EBITDA by 20.2% to R81.6 million. The group’s headline earnings increased by 7.8% to R54.2 million. In the prior period, Capprec concluded and successfully executed a transaction that included the share repurchase and cancellation of 245 million shares. The lower number of shares in issue benefited headline earnings per share (HEPS), which grew by 29.7% to 4.45 cents…

Herotel, South Africa’s junior fibre network operator, on Monday announced the milestone of reaching 100 000 subscribers with its fibre and fixed wireless networks. Founded in 2014 with the stated goal of providing a single national fibre and wireless broadband provider that can better service South Africa’s growing internet connectivity needs, Herotel acquired around 39 owner-operated businesses and 45 000 customers over a four-year period. Operating in over 400 towns, Herotel is at the forefront of building, selling and maintaining its own next-generation fibre and fixed-wireless networks across the country, which requires servicing areas that many other industry players have not…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) announced today that it had approved the amendment of the ICT COVID-19 National State of Disaster Regulations to extend the validity period of the temporary assignment of the radio frequency spectrum. In April, ICASA assigned a temporary emergency spectrum to telecommunications operators to ensure connectivity for all during the National State of Disaster period. The regulator has extended the temporary emergency spectrum to telecommunications to no later than 31 March 2021. The initial date within which the temporary spectrum was supposed to be returned to the Authority was 30 November 2020. “The…

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has selected Vodacom as partner to provide in-car streaming services. The new streaming service will be available to Toyota Connect and Lexus Connect. In August 2019, Toyota South Africa teamed up with Altron and Vodacom Business, to roll-out connectivity features and in-car Wi-Fi on all new Toyota and Lexus models. Known as Toyota Connect, the new connectivity hub will be housed within the MyToyota App which was launched in 2014. The technology allows Toyota owners access to a myriad of convenience, connectivity and safety benefits. Through its subsidiary, Netstar, Altron jointly designed and developed the…

The outgoing boss of Etion, Teddy Daka, has been appointed as the non-executive chairman of the struggling JSE-listed company. The appointment is effective from 1 February 2021. The diversified digital technology company announced earlier this month that Daka has resigned as CEO of the group. His resignation is effective from 31 January 2021. Daka replaces Dr Snowy Khoza, the chairman of the group, who will resign on 31 December 2020 from the diversified digital technology company. The company also announced the appointment of Nerishini Naidoo as the Group Chief Financial Officer with effect from 1 February 2021. The JSE-listed firm…

The latest data released today by MTN shows the value of MTN MoMo (mobile money) transactions was $61,2 billion (R926 billion) in the first half of 2020. Africa’s largest mobile phone group said in the first half of 2020 processed 11 752 MoMo transactions a minute across its markets, up 28% from 9 193 transactions a minute in 2019. The group said it remains committed to leveraging its technology to enable a cashless Africa. By the end of September 2020, nearly 42 million people were regularly transacting on MTN MoMo across 16 markets. This compares to 38 million active users at the end…

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has published new research proposing how should FinTechs handle non-traditional (alternative) data on the provision of financial services in South Africa. There’s currently no protection for South Africans who exposes their alternative data to FinTechs, and the use of these non-traditional data is not regulated. Alternative data has grown in prominence in South Africa and is increasingly being used by FinTechs and traditional financial institutions in serving customers. FinTechs are making use of external data like social site postings, search engine keywords, online transactions, photo albums, and group chats to gather insights about consumers’…