COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

De Beers CEO sees talks on new Botswana diamond pact concluding soonThe chief executive of global diamonds giant De Beers, Al Cook, said that his company expected negotiations with Botswana's government over a new diamond sales pact to conclude soon."We see negotiations concluding in days and weeks, not months and years," Cook said after meeting Botswana's new President Duma Boko, according to a video clip shared by Botswana's presidency.De Beers, a unit of Anglo American, last year agreed a new diamond sales pact with Botswana, which would see the government's share of diamonds from the Debswana joint venture gradually increase to 50% over the next decade.Debswana Diamond Company, equally owned by Botswana and De Beers, currently sells 75% of its output to De Beers.Although Botswana's former president Mokgweetsi Masisi touted the merits of the deal, it has yet to be signed.-REUTERSSouthern Sun HEPS flagged Hotel operator Southern Sun flagged a between 33% and 34% rise in adjusted headline earnings per share for its six months to end September. The group, which generated R255 million of this profit measure in the prior year, said in a brief statement it is encouraged by the continued improvement in trading volumes, as well as particularly strong trading in September. The group, whose hotels include 54 on Bath, the Sandton Sun, and the Beverly Hills in Umhlanga, had recently expressed optimism that increased confidence about SA's challenges would help unlock pent-up demand for travel and accommodation by both domestic and international corporates as well as government. This would particularly help its hotels in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which are weighted towards these segments. -FIN24Brait gets earnings boost Brait, the private equity firm partly owned by billionaire Christo Wiese, has reported that it got a boost from its underlying portfolio in its six months to end September. But its net asset value (NAV) per share still more than halved in the wake of a hefty recapitalisation in June that more than doubled the number of its shares in issue. The investment firm, which has stakes in gym chain Virgin Active, fast-moving consumer goods group Premier, and UK fashion retailer New Look, said on Wednesday that its NAV per share fell to 310c to end September from 684c a year before. Nevertheless, the total value of its investments still increased just over 9% to R16.57 billion in the period. The NAV was driven by increases in the value of its underlying investments as well as its issuance of more than 2.54 billion new shares in a rights offer that was concluded in August, which raised R1.5 billion as it looks to buy more time to unlock value from an underlying portfolio it plans to exit. Premier, of which Brait holds just over a third, was its best performing asset thanks to a 28% jump in its asset value in the period to R4.6 billion, driven by a share price rally for 200-year-old food producer. "The last six months have been a very significant period for the business ... we've done a recapitalisation ... and since then, the share price has trebled," Brait CEO Peter Hayward-Butt told News24.-FIN24 Botswana president appoints Bogolo Joy Kenewendo as minerals and energy ministerBotswana President Duma Boko on Thursday appointed Bogolo Joy Kenewendo as minister of minerals and energy. Kenewando previously served as trade minister under the Mokgweetsi Masisi administration, and was until recently, board chairperson of Bank Gaborone. -REUTERS Nigeria's NNPC signs 10-year gas sale deal with Dangote Refinery Nigeria's state oil firm, NNPC Ltd said on Wednesday one of its subsidiaries has agreed to supply 100 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the Dangote oil refinery for the next 10 years.Financial details were not disclosed.Under the agreement, NNPC Gas Marketing Limited will supply the refinery built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in Lagos with natural gas for power generation and feedstock. The contract has options for renewal and additional supply.NNPC, Africa's biggest oil producer, is seeking to promote domestic gas consumption for industrial growth.-REUTERS South Africa's MTN service revenue falls 18.5% in Q3Africa's biggest telecoms operator MTN Group (MTNJ.J), opens new tab reported on Thursday an 18.5% fall in service revenue in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, hit by the devaluation of the Nigerian naira and operational challenges in Sudan.MTN, with 288 million subscribers in 17 markets across Africa, said its group service revenue fell to 127.4 billion rand ($6.99 billion) from 156.3 billion rand in the same quarter last year.The group reported a 48.7% plunge in revenue from MTN Nigeria due to the devaluation of the currency, but noted that "the naira was less volatile on a sequential basis in Q3 than in preceding quarters".Its biggest contributor, MTN South Africa (MTN SA) grew marginally by 3.3% and Uganda followed suit with 5% growth helped by a firmer Ugandan shilling compared to last year.The company said its subscriber base grew by 1.6% to 288 million, affected by "subscriber registration regulations in Nigeria and a decline in users in Sudan, where millions of people have been displaced by the conflict."MTN estimates capital expenditure at between 28-33 billion rand for the full year and looks to spend more on Nigeria, encouraged by stronger demand in the country despite the regulatory challenges.-REUTERS South African labour union to strike at ArcelorMittal over job cutsSouth Africa's metal workers' union said it will go on strike at ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd on Thursday to protest job cuts that have impacted 107 workers.The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) said in a statement it would picket the company's Vanderbijlpark head office, south of Johannesburg, on Thursday."NUMSA has issued a strike notice to the company and it begins on Thursday the 14th of November," it said.The union said its members "have been provoked into striking" following the conclusion of a job cutting process.ArcelorMittal was not immediately available for comment.Africa's biggest steel producer, majority-owned by Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal SA was rocked by a two-week wage strike in May 2022, which compounded the impact of infrastructure problems and weak steel demand on the company's income.ArcelorMittal South Africa reported a loss of 1.11 billion rand ($61.63 million) in the six months to June 30, which widened from another loss of 448 million rand in the same period last year, amid difficult trading conditions in local and regional markets.The steelmaker said in July it decided against shutting its steel plant in the KwaZulu-Natal province, opting to explore a plan to make it viable. ArcelorMittal had announced plans to close the plant in November 2023.-REUTERS

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