Author: Gugu Lourie
It doesn’t make sense for SANTACO to buy shareholding or invest in SA Taxi, which is owned by JSE-listed Transaction Capital. In my opinion, it is a bad move to partner with this independent minibus taxi financier. For more read: SANTACO Buys 25% Stake in SA Taxi for R1.7 Billion This is not an emotive argument that simply says that SANTACO is not at liberty to make money or invest. Who am I to make such a judgement? I have argued before in 2007, in my blog titled Gugled published by Fin24, that the minibus taxi industry should be floated…
Cell C is terminating its franchisees and taking over some of them without compensating the owners, insiders have claimed. This year, Cell C is scheduled to take-over about 12 stores from their owners, internal documents seen by TechFinancials reveal. The internal document details Cell C’s “Franchise Take Backs and New Store Rollout 2018”. Cell C’s plan for the take-over of more franchisees stores: The list of franchisees kicked out of their own stores by Cell C include; Amproz, Abomanzi, A-Tech, Bertolox, Prytanya, Shalom Creative Projects, and Verbiplex. Asked to comment on the development, which started way back in 2015, owners…
Cell C Executives – who have already received a massive windfall in success bonuses – are going ahead with the initial public offering (IPO) plans billed for either next year or 2020. This is despite the fact that Cell C’s floating on the JSE is dependent on market conditions improving. The move has raised suspicions it may be a ploy by the company’s bosses to earn millions more. When asked, Cell C told TechFinancials – two months ago – that the mobile phone operator is still considering listing, subject to market conditions. Since then there was no evidence that Cell…
The Cell C board did not approve hefty bonuses to the company’s executives and senior staff, insiders have revealed. Earlier this month, TechFinancials reported that Cell C staff have asked the company’s chairman and board to investigate why executives and senior staff were paid hefty bonuses in light of the firm’s poor performance. This after the staff was informed they would not be paid any bonuses this year because the mobile phone operator had not met its EBITDA 2017 targets. It has since emerged that the company has paid three executives – led by Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos…
It’s a pretty momentous occasion for us here. We are turning five, and it’s nice to look back at the first five years we had, but even more exciting to think about what the next five might have in store. The first article was published on the 10th of September 2013. To venture into the unknown, I was influenced by Sumner Redstone’s quote: “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” As things get tougher (as they always do – publishing is not for the faint-hearted) I always get…
Workers at Cell C have asked the company’s chairman and board to investigate why executives and senior staff were paid hefty bonuses in light of the firm’s poor performance. A group of workers calling themselves “The Concerned & Frustrated Employees of Cell C” have raised the matter with chairman Kuben Pillay. Workers have been informed that they will not be paid any bonuses this year because the mobile phone operator had not met its EBITDA 2017 targets. The workers have since found out that the company has paid three executives – led by Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos – a…
Nigeria’s government risks damaging its investment climate with it’s Central Bank demanding $8,1 billion (R115 billion) allegedly paid as a dividend to MTN to be refunded to it. The move seems like an uninspiring way of encouraging any would be investors to see Nigeria as a destination for investment. In the short-term, the $8,1 billion (R115 billion) which is being demanded by the Nigerians, over claims the money was taken out of the country unlawfully, could be the quickest way to get funds for the central bank. The Nigerian economy is struggling to recover from its first contraction in a…
Staff at Cell C are very unhappy after they were told by their boss that they would not get any bonuses this year because the mobile phone operator had not met its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) 2017 targets. A letter to the staff written by Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos – himself a recipient of part of the R219m windfall paid to executives – states that workers will not be paid any bonuses or short-term incentive programme (STIP) this year. Dos Santos wrote: “As you will be aware, April is usually the time of the…
Notwithstanding that this recapitalisation enabled Cell C to “finance” the acquisition of shares by Blue Label through selling its own shares. With such earnings, Cell C’s top three executives have to be among the highest paid prescribed directors in the country’s lucrative mobile phone industry. Their pay might have even eclipsed that of MTN, Africa and the Middle East largest mobile phone company, which is known to handsomely reward its executives. The Cell C trio earned more than executives of Vodacom, the country’s largest cellphone operator – owned by British mobile phone giant Vodafone. In the 2017 financial year, Cell C’s…
Deon Fredericks has been appointed as struggling SAA’s interim chief financial officer (CFO) effective from 15 October. Fredericks is on secondment from Telkom – Africa’s largest integrated communications firm – to the national carrier for a 12-month period. He takes over from Robert (Bob) Head, whose contract as SAA Interim CFO ended on 30 September. So who is Deon Fredericks? He is Telkom’s chief investment officer and prior to that, he was the chief financial officer at the integrated communications firm for four years. Fredericks joined the then state-owned Telkom in 1993 as a senior manager in the internal audit…