Blue Label Telecoms' shares took a whack yesterday, sinking more than 13% after it told shareholders that Cell C had defaulted on interest and loan repayments. The thing is, the news shouldn't have come as a surprise as the mobile network operator announced a debt standstill last July as part of a series of initiatives aimed at getting itself back on its feet. Its debt has already been downgraded to default by S&P Global. And Blue Label has fully impaired its investment in Cell C. In light of all that, the selloff appears to have been overdone.

Another company battling high debt is London-listed shopping centre owner intu Properties. Its shares improved slightly yesterday after it announced the sale of another of its Spanish shopping centres as it gets its balance sheet in order. However, investors will be keen to see the terms of a proposed rights offer which will be released along with its results next month.

More on those stories to follow, along with positive updates from Anglo American Platinum and Lewis Group and a slightly less positive sales update from Spur Corporation - though it appears to have done well given the tough environment for consumer-facing companies.

We also take a look at how you can balance your retirement annuities with Section 12J investments, which can be used to reduce taxpayers' income tax or capital gains tax liabilities.

Finally, if you received Prosus shares following Naspers's unbundling of its international internet assets last year and want to know more about the group and whether the listing achieved what it set out to do, you can access Ingham Analytics' latest research note here.

Have a good day.

Stephen Gunnion

Managing Editor, InceConnect