COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Comair suspends its British Airways flightsComair announced late on Tuesday evening that it had to suspend all its kulula.com flights as well as the British Airways flights it operates under a licence agreement.

The flights are suspended pending Comair successfully securing additional funding.

The company’s business rescue practitioners have advised that the process to raise the necessary capital is in progress and that there is reason to believe funding may be secured. Once received, the airline will be able to recommence operations.

British Airways (operated by Comair) and kulula.com ticket sales have also been suspended with immediate effect.

“We deeply regret the inconvenience this suspension will cause our customers. We did everything we could to avoid it. Comair, the BRPs and the lenders are working all out to get the funding in place so that we can resume our normal flight schedule as soon as possible,” says Comair CEO, Glenn Orsmond.

Orsmond told Fin24 last week that Comair has about 40% of South Africa’s domestic aviation market. - Fin24 Naspers adds financial advisory LifeCheqNaspers Foundry has invested R40 million in fintech startup LifeCheq, which provides a range of financial planning services as the company drives its investment in early-stage innovative companies.

The deal is Foundry’s fifth fintech investment in South Africa-focused technology companies and eleventh tech transaction. Naspers launched the fund three years ago.

The platform, which launched in 2018, allows independent financial advisors to provide seamless financial advisory services and guide consumers to achieve their financial goals, such as the purchase of high-value assets, improving savings and investment habits, and appropriate contributions to pensions, among others products.

According to Abu Addae, co-founder and CEO of LifeCheq, existing solutions for quality financial advice ignored a large portion of society globally, simply because they were “not wealthy enough”.

“Our mission is to fix that,” says Addae.

The investment is part of Naspers’s R1.4-billion commitment to grow South Africa’s early-stage tech ecosystem. Naspers Foundry’s previous investments include companies in education, insurance companies, and agritech. - Fin24 Famous Brands revenue jumpsFamous Brands saw its total revenue increase by 38% to R6.475 billion for the year to end-February, close to pre-pandemic levels (R6.495 billion in the year to February 2020).

But while its headline earnings per share increased by 568% for the year, it’s still 24% lower than in 2020.Its leading brands – Steers, Wimpy, Debonairs, Mugg & Bean and Milky Lane – saw a 62% increase in revenue to R918 million, thanks to higher royalty payments due to improved franchised restaurant sales.

Its signature brands – Paul, Lupa, Vovo Telo and other restaurant brands – also saw a recovery in sales, but turnover remains below pre-pandemic levels.

“Quick-service restaurants continued to outperform casual dining restaurants,” the company said.

Following the fall-out of lockdown regulations and civil unrest last year, Famous Brands is still giving some affected franchise partners royalty and marketing fee breaks. - Fin24 Capitec rewards its executivesCapitec’s remuneration committee (Remco) says excellent performance and strong leadership before and during the “Covid-19 year” informed its decision to reward its three top executives with R177 million.

Commenting on the proposed changes to the implementation of the remuneration policy, which investors, holding 47.5% of its shares, shot down at this year’s annual general meeting (AGM), the Remco said it extensively evaluated how it could sustain the principle of “fair and responsible rewards” to retain key management.

It also said that it proactively engaged with investors on this matter, even though more than 25% of shareholders voted against it.

“Despite the Covid-19 year, the bank’s headline earnings recovered; it had the ability to pay dividends; it continued to protect the livelihoods during the pandemic; and the share price recovered,” said Remco in a statement.

The committee added that even if the “Covid-19 year” - the 2021 financial year - was included in its calculations to determine 2022 executive remuneration, Capitec would have still hit the target for both headline earnings per share (HEPS) and return on equity (ROE). - Fin24 Standard Bank reports a case

Standard Bank has reported the case involving dormant accounts that its employees activated with their own funds to the authorities.

The bank, which held its 2022 annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday morning told shareholders that it was giving the issue of ghost accounts the seriousness it deserves.

“The allegations have been investigated and the investigation continues. Secondly, we have reported all the facts before us to all the relevant authorities,” said Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala.

However, Tshabalala said it was still too early to say definitively how this will affect the customer numbers for its SA operations or what the financial impact is going to be. The bank breached the 10 million customer mark in its South Africa operations last December.

However, when it emerged that some of its staff members had been activating accounts to create an illusion that they were active when some of them were not, the bank said this affected a very small portion of MyMo accounts. - Fin24