Author: Gugu Lourie

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is stepping down as chief executive of the company. The social media giant said he will be replaced by the current chief technical officer, Parag Agrawal. Agrawal is currently the chief technology officer of Twitter. The company said Dorsey would step down immediately but that he would remain on the board until Twitter’s shareholder meeting in 2022. “I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has concluded its analysis of applications for provisional assignment of radio frequency spectrum under the new ICT COVID-19 National State of Disaster Regulations, 2021, and resolved to grant licences to six electronic communications network operators. The licences are valid for a period of seven months, commencing from 1 December 2021, and ending on 30 June 2022 – or three months after the termination of the National State of Disaster – whichever comes first. By the closing date on 17 November 2021, the Authority had received 6 applications, from: Rain Networks, Vodacom, Cell…

The MR Price app remains the highest-ranked South African fashion shopping app in the Google Play store. The South African retailer Mr Price says the Mr Price app has 1.1 million users and ranks highest in engagement with the most monthly active users amongst competitors, according to SimilarWeb. “The online channel remains key to the group’s future growth plans and to keep it closely connected to its digitally engaged customer base,” says Mr Price. The JSE-listed retailer also said that online sales continue to increase in retail sales contribution, up to 2.9% (2.7% excluding acquisitions). According to the retailer, online sales growth…

South African retailer Mr Price, which uses cellular handsets and accessories to drive footfall traffic into its stores and online platforms, reported strong growth in sales from its telecoms segment in the 26 weeks ended 2 October 2021. Today, the JSE-listed retailer reported that its Telecoms Business recorded a 22.8% rise in sales to R522 million against solid growth in the base of 18.6%. Mr Price attributed the strong growth in Telecoms Business to the inclusion of Power Fashion’s cellular sales. “Cellular handsets and accessories gained 80bps of market share according to GfK (100bps including acquisitions),” Mr Price informed investors. Telecoms Business sells cellular products and services. Mr…

Today, the South African retailer Mr Price reported that its Financial Services business saw a 2.7% increase in revenues to R337 million in the 26 weeks ended 2 October 2021. The retailer said the Financial Services business debtors’ interest and fees were adversely affected by significantly lower repo rates experienced during the full year 2022 period relative to the staggered impact in the full year 2021. “Collections continue to improve against a weak base and have additionally been aided by the successful introduction of alternate collection methods,” Mr Price informed investors. “The quality of the debtors’ book continues to improve,…

Africa’s tech investor Naspers reported that its e-commerce business saw revenue swelled by 52% $4.6 billion or R72 billion in the six months ending 30 September 2021, outpacing revenue growth at Tencent. The company said this performance was led by 100% growth in Classifieds, 86% growth in Food Delivery, 51% growth in Edtech, and 44% growth in Payments and Fintech. Analyst consensus estimates of the value of the e-commerce portfolio (excluding Tencent and VK/mail.ru) are increasing and is now approaching $50 billion or R786 billion. “This substantial value appreciation translates to a 22% internal rate of return (IRR) on the…

Electric vehicles (EVs) are key to a more sustainable future. In 2020, we saw a rapid acceleration in uptake, with sales of EVs rising by 43%. COP26 earlier this month has similarly reinforced the importance of net-zero and sustainable initiatives, which we expect to lead to further market growth. Yet, while EVs are predicted to represent 48% of all new cars sold in 2030, for this to come to fruition, an unbundling is required in the software and hardware which makes up the vehicle. “We believe that consumers will buy cars on the strength of their software,” Mina Samaan, VC…

MTN Group announced on Thursday it has sold its majority stake in MTN Yemen to an affiliate of its minority shareholder, Zubair Corporation LLC. Effective 17 November 2021, MTN Group transferred our majority shareholding in Yemen operations to Emerald International Investment LCC. Emerald is a subsidiary of Zubair Investment Centre LLC, an affiliate of Zubair Corporation LLC, which is the minority shareholder in MTN Yemen. “The decision to exit Yemen was driven by a need to simplify the portfolio and focus our limited resources on executing a pan-African strategy,” said MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita. “We would like to thank…

Vodacom today announced it has added 6.2 million new customers to reach a total 0f 129.9 million customers, including Safaricom on a 100% basis, in the six months to end-September 2021. The Vodafone-owned group said its local operation delivered service revenue growth of 3.6% driven by connectivity demand, an additional 1.1 million data customers, incremental wholesale revenue and growth in our new services. “This was an impressive result given the demanding comparative associated with lockdowns in the prior period.” Vodacom added that financial services customers, including Safaricom on a 100% basis, reached 57.3 million in the period. “Looking ahead, we…

Vodacom has increased its capital expenditure for its South Africa network expansion by 11.1% to R5.6 billion in the six months to end September 2021. The Vodafone-owned telco said the capital expenditure was directed at improving the capacity and resilience of the network and increasing the 5G roll-out. “We now have 97.7% (1H21: 96.4%) 4G population coverage and have extended our 5G sites to 521.” The company added that in the current financial year it will invest more than R10.5 billion into its world-class network, in addition to the R47 billion spent over the past five years alone. “This is…