COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Absa waives excess paymentsAbsa, one of South Africa’s largest banks and financial services groups, is waiving excesses for flood-related claims to provide relief for its customers affected by the disaster is KwaZulu-Natal.

“Given that we have a crisis, it will be not prudent as people deal with losses suffered owing to flooding and then also worry about excesses,” Faisal Mkhize, managing executive for relationship banking at Absa Retail and Business Bank, told Fin24 on Monday.

“Some of the waivers that we’ve implemented is to allow people to go through the claim processes as easily as possible, where we take away some of these costs that are associated with insurance claims. That is one of the things that we’re doing and it’s deliberate, because we think we need to be treating the current situation as abnormal,” he said.

The waived excess fees are likely to amount to millions of rands, Mkhize said, although he noted it is early days yet as claims are expected to still pour in the days and weeks ahead.

On Monday night President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that a national state of disaster has been declared in the wake of the floods that have claimed the lives of 443 people to date.

-Fin24

Former Coca-Cola boss caught taking bribesA former Coca-Cola boss in the UK on Thursday avoided jail despite taking more than £1.5 million (R29 million) in bribes in return for channeling lucrative contracts to favoured companies.

Noel Corry, 56, provided companies with confidential information to give them an advantage over rivals when bidding for electrical services contracts for bottling plants in the UK.

In return, he received payments through “bogus” contracts for work at Coca-Cola Enterprises that was never carried out, or overpaying for work done and pocketing the difference, prosecutors said.

At London’s Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, he was given a 20-month suspended sentence, while two directors of the other companies involved in the scheme, which ran between 2004 and 2013, were each given a 12-month suspended sentence.

“Corry had established a corrupt culture in the procurement exercise, awarding contracts to those companies whose senior managers were prepared to bribe him for doing so,” said Alistair Dickson of the Crown Prosecution Service.

 -Fin24

Eskom load shedding jumps to Stage 4Eskom has announced that load shedding has immediately jumped to Stage 4 on Tuesday morning after more generation units failed.

The power utility said the jump from Stage 2 happened at 7:20 after Majuba Unit 5 and Tutuka Unit 4 tripped.

Eskom did not say when the load shedding will end. A statement is expected to be released soon with more details. CEO Andre de Ruyter is also scheduled to brief the media at 10:00 on the state of the grid. Eskom initially started with overnight Stage 2 load shedding early last week, before more unit failures at various power stations led to full-time shedding until Friday morning. There was a slight reprieve until Sunday, when Stage 2 was needed again. 

-Fin24



Transnet expects to brave more rainTransnet said it is identifying alternative access routes for trucks heading to its terminals at its Durban port after a hellish week of flooding.

This follows a return to operation for Transnet’s Durban Port. Road freight and logistics were rocked by the damage to road infrastructure from severe rain, prompting Transnet to suspend operations at its Durban port as a precaution on Tuesday.

Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi told Fin24 on Thursday that the damage assessment by Transnet and the Department of Public Enterprises was still ongoing.

A statement from Transnet on Thursday evening indicated that the entity had conducted a damage assessment to the port in Durban and appointed contractors to restore Bayhead Road to allow the flow of traffic to and from the port.

“Contractors are expected to work throughout the weekend on repair work of the washed away area of Bayhead Road. There is rain forecast for eThekwini over the weekend, which could impact the conclusion of this work.”-Fin24



Nissan exec warns SA car ­exportersSouth Africa risks losing the bulk of its automotive exports unless the government implements policies to create an electric-vehicle manufacturing industry, according to Nissan’s Africa head.

Europe is the destination for about two-thirds of car exports from South Africa, which earned R202 billion from sending vehicles and components internationally in 2019. But with countries such as Germany moving toward mandating the use of cleaner cars, South Africa risks being left behind, Mike Whitfield, Nissan Africa’s managing director, said in an interview.

“A very large percentage of our exports as an industry go to Europe, and while Europe is moving aggressively to electric, we are not,” said Whitfield, who is also president of the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers. “We are going to progressively lose our potential markets.”

South Africa relies on the automotive industry for about 15% of its exports, and has lured major manufacturers such as Toyota and Volkswagen with a government incentive plan to set up local plants.

Yet the country remains a long way off introducing electric vehicles to its roads on any significant scale. While traditional gas and diesel-fuelled cars can be imported for free, EVs attract a duty of as much as 25% and there are few charging stations. -Fin24