NATIONAL NEWS - Here’s what caught our attention on Monday:
President Cyril Ramaphosa to review PP report
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the findings in the public protector’s report against him are flawed and is asking the courts to review the findings. Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane released a report on Friday, saying the president deliberately mislead parliament when he denied claims about a R500 000 donation he received from Bosasa for his ANC presidential campaign.
Ramaphosa told a press conference, on Sunday, that although the findings against him are serious, they should have ‘a sound legal basis’. Ramaphosa says he is seeking the review to preserve the integrity of the office he occupies.
Read: Ramaphosa takes public protector’s decision on review
CompCom against Aton takeover of M&R
German construction company Aton now has to battle against the Competition Commission in its bid to takeover Murray & Roberts. The Competition Commission announced its recommendation to prohibit the proposed transaction as it finds that it would result in a substantial lessening of competition.
According to Moneyweb, the commission’s recommendation comes as a surprise to Murray & Roberts, which says, despite Aton’s cash offer price of R17 per share, being below its fair-value price range, it believed Aton would obtain regulatory approval. Aton shareholders have been given the right to contest the recommendation.
Anglo American Platinum results
Strong market fundamentals alongside the weakening rand and a higher rand basket price have given a boost to Anglo American Platinum’s H1 headline earnings, which increased by 120% to R7.4 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2019. Headline earnings per share also increased by 120% to R28.15.
The company says it strengthened its balance sheet to end the period with net cash of R6 billion, reflecting a R3.1 billion improvement after it paid a final dividend of R2 billion in March 2019.
For the period under review, Anglo American Platinum is declaring an interim dividend of R11 per share.
Naspers CEO’s big fat wallet
The CEO of the ever-expanding media and e-commerce giant, Naspers took home at least R1.9 billion in salary, incentives, vested share options as well as shares appreciation rights, for the year ended March 2019. TechCentral is reporting that Bob van Dijk received the equivalent of almost R180 million in base pay, pension and incentives during the 2019 financial year.
The findings were published in regulatory filings on Friday.
Week ahead and rand update
The National Assembly will consider the Eskom Appropriation Bill tomorrow, SA’s June’s inflation rate data will be released on Wednesday and producer price inflation for June on Thursday.
In the US, discussions over a possible interest rate cut are still looming, keeping global currencies on edge.
On Monday the rand was at R13.97 to the dollar at 8:27.
