Company News in Brief

Ayo suspended from JSE for failing to publish its 2024 annual report.The JSE suspended trading in Ayo Technology Solutions on Wednesday (26 February) for failing to publish its annual report for the year to August 2024.This is the latest blow to the tech firm, which is part of Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo group, majority owner of Independent Media and African Equity Empowerment Investments.The company’s shares have dropped to 40c, down 99% from the peak of R45 in 2017.“We regret to inform stakeholders of our suspension, but wish to assure the market that we remain committed to transparency and engagement with all our stakeholders, including the regulator and our valued shareholders,” said Ayo CEO Amit Makan in a statement.“I believe we have done everything within our power to ensure compliance with the Listings Requirements, however, the release of our results is contingent on the external quality reviewer, the independence and process of which we respect.”-MONEYWEBBP ditches climate targets in pivot back to oil and gasBritish energy giant BP launched a major pivot back to its more profitable oil and gas business Wednesday, shelving its once industry-leading targets on reducing carbon emissions and slashing clean energy investment. The strategy overhaul comes after a difficult trading year for BP, which is under pressure from investors to boost its share price as countries look to slash emissions. "We are reducing and reallocating capital expenditure to our highest-returning businesses to drive growth," chief executive Murray Auchincloss said in a statement ahead of a presentation to investors in London. "This is a reset BP, with an unwavering focus on growing long-term shareholder value," he added.To the dismay of environmentalists, the group will cut cleaner energy investment by more than $5 billion annually, while retiring targets on cutting emissions.BP on Wednesday claimed it had reduced emissions by more than expected. Its carbon-cutting targets, announced in 2020, had stood out at the time as one of the most ambitious in the industry.-AFP Momentum shares rally 13% after it flags a profit surgeShares in Momentum, the Centurion-headquartered insurance and investment group, rallied over by over 10% on Wednesday after it advised shareholders to expect a jump in half-year earnings.The group said in a trading update on Wednesday that earnings and headline earnings per share are expected to rise between 50% and 55%, to between 240c and 248c for the six months to end-December.Normalised headline earnings are also expected to climb by between 43% and 48%.The strong earnings guidance helped the group’s share price jump 13.5% to R31.62 in lunchtime trade, though they later eased gains a little, valuing the group at about R43 billion on the JSE.Momentum said it had delivered a strong operational performance across all of its business units, while it also experienced improved persistency in most of its South African life insurance businesses.Better discipline when underwriting insurance policies, along with favourable weather conditions, had also resulted in a solid recovery in Momentum Insure's earnings.Guardrisk delivered good growth in underwriting profits as well as management fee income, while earnings were further bolstered by improved financial market conditions.Momentum added that strong cash generation had helped support its group capital and liquidity position.The group, which rebranded itself to Momentum Group last year from its previous moniker of Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, wants to achieve normalised headline earnings of R7 billion by its 2027 financial year.That's according to a new strategic outline provided by Momentum in July 2024, which is premised on increased digitisation, cost reduction, and organic growth in health, investment, and advice-led operations.-FIN24

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