Author: Gugu Lourie

Troubled mobile phone operator Cell C wants to transform itself into a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Cell C is unable to compete against bigger rivals, Vodacom, MTN and Telkom. In the year ended-May 2019, Cell C reported an after-tax net loss of R8 billion. Its woes are having a negative impact on JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, which owns almost half of the mobile phone company. Blue Label Telecoms has written off its entire investment in Cell C to zero. In an interview with Financial Mail, Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson revealed the company’s turnaround plan. After years of losses,…

Foursight Holdings Proprietary Limited (FH), the intermediary investment holding company of some of the South African subsidiaries, has filed for business rescue, becoming the latest local tech company to stumble. FH is a subsidiary of JSE-listed technology group 4Sight Holdings. 4Sight informed investors on Tuesday are advised that the directors of FH have passed a resolution placing FH into business rescue in terms of section 129 of the Companies Act, 71 of 2008. FH is an intermediate holding company, within the 4Sight group, and is heavily dependent on the cash flows in the form of dividends and management fees from…

About  50 “enterprise development” business partners and intermediaries have approached the courts to challenge troubled tech group EOH for blacklisting them over suspect payments. In July 2019, EOH reported that suspicious transaction to the value of R1,2 billion had been identified. The ENSafrica team, which was appointed by EOH, has made significant progress on the investigation, said the JSE-listed company on Tuesday. “They have completed almost 80% of their investigation into the R1,2 billion identified suspect payments. This amount has since been modified to R935 million and includes transactions with no evidence of valid contracts being in a place or…

The CEO of JSE-listed software services firm Adapt IT took home R3.66 million for the financial year ended 30 June 2019. As part of the package, Sbu Shabalala received R1.17 million in bonus and performance-related payments. In 2018, Shabalala was paid R2.7 million, plus R1.7 million in bonus and performance-related payments. While Tiffany Dunsdon, Adapt IT’s commercial director and MD of international operations, received R2.9 million plus R697 000 in bonus and performance-related payments. In 2018, her total package was R2.3 million. Nombali Mbambo, Adapt IT CFO, was paid R2.5 million for the financial year ended 30 June versus R1.9…

Adapt IT reported a 6% drop in headline earnings per share (HEPS) from continuing operations to 57 cents for the year ended 30 June 2019. HEPS is South Africa’s main profit gauge. The JSE-listed services group also announced on Monday it has deferred a dividend decision until after the 31 December 2019 interim reporting date to reduce the net gearing ratio in the short-term “The board has taken a decision that it is prudent to defer a dividend decision until after the interim period when cash flows of the group are generally stronger from a ‘seasonality’ perspective,” the company informed investors.…

Lebashe Investment Group will not go ahead with a planned investment in EOH, a JSE-listed troubled tech firm. The investment group announced late on Friday that it will not invest another R250 million in EOH. In October 2018, Lebashe Investment Group announced entered into a binding long-form agreement with EOH, increasing the maximum cash injection into the technology group from  R250 million to R1 billion. The shareholding acquired through the capital injection, along with the 40 million A shares to be issued will make EOH, by a significant margin, Africa’s largest listed and empowered information technology group, said Lebashe at the…

(MTN updates figures of mobile money jobs to 400, 000 direct jobs instead of a million) The ripple effect of mobile money is changing the lives of people in Africa and beyond. “We estimate that the MTN mobile money ecosystem has contributed to the creation of 400 , 000 jobs across our footprint,” MTN Group said in an article published as part of the company’s launch of “We’re good together” initiative. For more read: Everyone Deserves the Benefits of a Modern, Connected Life, Says MTN This initiative is aimed at demonstrating how, in partnering with our host countries, we can…

Technology group Jasco Electronics announced plans to sell its Electrical Manufacturers Division. The JSE-listed company said its wholly-owned subsidiary Jasco Trading has entered into a sale of business agreement with African Zaibatsu Corporation (AZC) As part of the deal, AZC will acquire 100% of the Electrical Manufacturers Division (EM) for R65 million. The proceeds from the disposal will be applied towards reducing the Jasco corporate bond and the working capital loan. EM focusses on the business of contract manufacturing components for predominantly the domestic appliance industry in South Africa. AZC is a 100% black-owned and 100% black youth-owned South African…

The Southern African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (SAVCA), in partnership with First National Bank (FNB) and the SA SME Fund as lead sponsors, has launched a Fund Manager Development Programme (FMDP) with the aim of increasing the number of females-and black-owned and managed fund managers. South Africa’s private equity industry still has a way to go in achieving a truly diverse workforce. This is according to the 2019 SAVCA industry survey, which revealed that the percentage of female and black (as defined in the B-BBEE Codes) professionals within the industry in 2018 increased to 29.6% and 56.9% respectively,…

Blue Label Telecoms, which owns 45% of the troubled mobile phone group Cell C, may face suspension on the JSE bourse. The exchange said Blue Label Telecoms has failed to distribute its annual financial statements and notice of the annual general meeting within the four-month period stipulated in the JSE’s Listings Requirements. “Accordingly, the company’s listing on the JSE trading system has been annotated with a ‘RE’ to indicate that it has failed to comply and that the listing of this company’s securities is under threat of suspension and possible removal,” said the JSE on Tuesday. The exchange added that…

The Telkom October Big Deal has been revealed. Telkom’s SmartBroadband Wireless 40GB Anytime + 40GB Night Surfer SIM only data gives you 80GB per month for just R299. Night Surfer Data shall be valid between 12am – 7am. But you also have the choice to add a Huawei B525 router for R70 per month. That’s R369 in total for your very own WiFi at home. Connect all your devices and use your 80GB your way. The SmartBroadband 40GB Wireless is an LTE data offer. It is available as a SIM Only on a 24-month contract and as a deal which…

Stash, an investment app created by Liberty, now reaches 45 000 users. The tax-free investment app has been downloaded 50, 000 times with 175,000 investment transactions per month, and more than R70 million in investments so far. Liberty said on Monday this is a great reason for anyone to start stashing their spare change today. Stash is an app that simply rounds up transactions when you swipe your bank card and invests the digital spare change in South Africa’s Top 40 companies, tax-free. Stash is classified as a tax-free investment account, which means you don’t pay any tax on your…

Yoco announced today that its customer base of small businesses had crossed the 50,000 milestone and to further grow its customer base the South African FinTech firm is launching a new, lower-cost POS terminal The South African Point of Sale payments provider also launched the Yoco Go, a card machine targeting previously underserved small businesses that have not had access to card payment and Point of Sale technologies. The introduction of the Yoco Go is a critical element of the company’s growth strategy of doubling its merchant base over the next twelve months. Historically, small businesses have been excluded from the…

Cryptocurrency platform Coindirect has launched a brokerage system aimed at traders looking to do large volume cryptocurrency transactions. The “over-the-counter” (OTC) model, introduced this month, is a ‘first’ in South Africa and sets Coindirect apart from its local competitors in the market, the company claimed. “During our first two years in the industry we have paid close attention to which users are driving the volume of crypto trading,” Nic Haralambous, Coindirect’s COO, says. “Our approach is to bring cryptocurrency to as many users as possible, however, the data shows that a majority of the daily trading volume in South Africa…

Struggling mobile phone operator Cell C is showing no signs of recovery but it seems to be going slowly nowhere. JSE-listed telecoms group Blue Label Telecoms, which owns 45% of Cell C, informed investors on Thursday that the mobile phone operator incurred trading losses of R1.56 billion, impairments of its property, plant and equipment of R2.2 billion and de-recognised its deferred tax asset of R4.09 billion for the year ended-May 2019. Blue Label Telecoms said its 45% share amounted to R3.609 billion on the inclusion of the amortisation of intangible assets of R10 million and an expense of R65 million…

Blue Label Telecoms, which was once a darling of JSE investors, is sinking deeper into trouble as Cell C knocks the JSE-listed group’s earnings. Cell C’s largest shareholder reported on Thursday that core headline earnings for the year ended 31 May 2019 equated to a negative 304.77 cents per share. Headline earnings per share is South Africa’s main profit gauge. The company as expected attributed the bad news to Cell C and impairment of its total investment in the Oxigen India group. The company which used to be regarded as a JSE’s best-kept secret has seen its shares plummet 36% year-to-date…

JSE-listed firm Blue Label Telecoms announced on Wednesday it will sell its shareholding in Blue Label Mobile to DNI 4PL Contracts Proprietary Limited (DNI). In terms of this transaction, Blue Label will sell 85% of Blue Label Mobile issued shares and all claims on loan to DNI 809. The price consideration payable by DNI to Blue Label in respect of the deal is R350 million. DNI will also pay R100 million, which shall escalate at the prime rate of interest plus 2% (compounding annually in arrears) from the fifth business day after the date on which all suspensive conditions  are…

South African venture capital (VC) firms and fund managers invested R1.5 billion channelled towards South African startups in 2018. This is according to SAVCA 2019 Venture Capital Industry Survey released by the Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA), conducted in collaboration with research partner Venture Solutions. Gauteng businesses received the largest share of VC money in 2018 (R658 million), up 38% from 2017. The Western Cape saw an increase in 2018 of 14% in VC investments amounting to R433 million. Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) backed VC business have in 2018 seen a significant increase in activity in comparison to 2017, with…

Vodacom’s boss is on study leave and the chief financial officer (CFO) is acting as CEO of the mobile phone operator, TechFinancials has learned. British mobile phone giant Vodafone, which owns Vodacom, has sent Shameel Joosub to study at Harvard Business School, a reliable source this week told TechFinancials. Another source at the company confirmed that Till Strichert, Vodacom’s CFO has been appointed as acting CEO. However, Vodacom wouldn’t be drawn into commenting the matter. “Vodacom does not comment on internal matters of this nature,” a Vodacom spokesperson said in an email response. Asked when is Joosbub contract was ending, the response was:…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) said on Thursday it will, before the end of 2019, publish the Information Memorandum on the licensing process for the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) spectrum or what is also referred to as high demand spectrum. This follows the publication of the Policy on High Demand Spectrum and Policy Direction on the Licensing of a Wireless Open Access Network (the Policy Direction) by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies. The Information Memorandum is also intended to provide guidance to stakeholders and prospective applicants on the process and criteria to be applied by…

JSE-listed group Blue Label Telecoms woes mount as Cell C continues to negatively impact the company. Blue Label Telecoms, which owns 45% of Cell C, on Thursday informed investors that its earnings will take a knock. The company attributed this to ongoing Cell C woes. Blue Label Telecoms said its earnings for the year to end-May 2019 will take a R6.71 a share knock. It attributed this to Cell C’s trading losses, impairment of its property, plant and equipment, the impact of a de- recognition of its deferred tax asset and the impairment of its total investment. The earnings will…

GRAND BAIE, Mauritius – Twelve-year-old Marika and 10-year-old Annie are swimming in the warm water of the majestic ocean and are ecstatic to see me. They greet me in English, and I warmly respond and say “hi young ones”.  “You can speak English,” Marika exclaims.  French and Creole are the languages most spoken in Mauritius. Annie shyly asks: “How is that possible? You look like a Mauritian.”  Before I can answer, she asks: “Are you visiting here? Where are you from?” “The city of Jo-hustle-burg is my hometown little ones”. I silently say: “Thank you, the greatest writer of our troubled…

Southern Africa Telecommunications Association (SATA) on Friday announced that it was working hard to enable a one flat rate for the process of making and receiving calls overseas. Roaming costs are sky-high for travellers across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and is a hindrance when just popping over to a neighbouring country for pleasure or work. SATA chairman and CEO of Mauritius Telecom Sherry Singh said on Friday the organisations finalising its initiative to decrease roaming prices. The initiative is known as ‘Roam like at home’. Singh said he has invited the SATA member countries to sign the…

Southern Africa Telecommunications Association (SATA) on Friday launched a digital sharing platform to address the challenges of knowledge sharing in the region. SATA was founded in 1980 in line with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Treaty. It regroups companies from the information and communications technology industry. It aims at spearheading regional ICT infrastructure and services developments. Its vision is to become the most dynamic and value-adding organisation that facilitates the building of a prosperous information society for the SADC region. At the launch of the digital sharing platform in Port Louis, SATA chairman and CEO of Mauritius Telecom, Sherry…

South Africa’s first fully digital bank TymeBank is adding up to 3, 500 customers a day as it leverages the use of digital biometric technology to make banking simple and affordable. The bank, which is backed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, has on-boarded 500 000 customers as at 30 June 2019. TymeBank is owned by African Rainbow Capital (ARC) Financial Services Holdings, a company within Motsepe’s Ubuntu-Botho Investments stable. African Rainbow Capital said on Thursday in a statement that the bank is signing up between 3 000 and 3 500 customers per day, with about 40% of bank accounts being active. “The…