Anglo American has announced De Beers' diamond sales for the latest cycle, highlighting that US demand for diamonds is strong. Some of that stimulus money seems to be finding its way into engagement rings!
In far less glamourous news, Transnet is investigating the fires that broke out at the Richards Bay Multi-Purpose Terminal and Durban's Grain Export Terminal just a few days apart. In Richards Bay, five of the seven conveyor belts have been fully restored. In Durban, the grain conveyor is being fixed ahead of the next grain vessel arriving on 26 October.
The bigger concern is the extent to which key industries like agriculture and coal mining rely on Transnet. Its importance to South Africa's economic growth is arguably second only to Eskom.
BHP is upping its offer for Noro nt Resources in Canada to CAD0.75 per share, a whopping 213% premium to Noront's price before BHP and Wyloo started fighting over the company. The SENS announcement sounds like Game of Thrones, as Noront is developing deposits like Black Thor found in the Ring of Fire. I kid you not.
For the offer to go ahead, shareholders with at least 50% of shares not owned by BHP must accept the offer. I've written many times about the Huge Group play for Adapt IT, which was a general offer without a minimum acceptance threshold. It ended in disaster. BHP has given us another example here of how things should be done.
Speaking of Huge, that company's dispute with Cell C has been settled. The board notes that there is no material impact on Huge's earnings, which is good news.
Efora shareholders have suffered through the share being suspended from trading for over a year now. The reason is that Afric Oil, in which Efora holds a 71.13% stake, is in business rescue. Creditors and shareholders have now approved the business rescue plan and the practitioners will implement it accordingly. The company gave several other updates in its latest announcement, so Efora shareholders should ensure that they read it.
AngloGold has priced its latest offering of USD750 million in debt notes at 3.375%. The proceeds will be used to repurchase the 5.125% notes due in 2022, so AngloGold is lowering its funding cost through this issuance.
Standard Bank's quarterly update reveals higher average balances and growth in transactional activity. The credit loss ratio is within the group's through-the-cycle target of 70bps to 100bps.
Small cap Santova has put out a whopping trading statement, showing an interim HEPS increase of between 118.1% and 123.1% vs. last year. Before you think this is a Covid base effect, I mus t point out that interim 2020 HEPS was higher than in 2019.
Good luck in the markets today!
The Finance Ghost
