Company news in brief

Steinhoff slides further on accounting scandal

Shares in Steinhoff plunged more than 30% yesterday, extending dramatic losses suffered the previous session after the South African retailer revealed “accounting irregularities” and its chief executive quit.

By 0748 GMT, the stock had slid 37% to R11.05 in Johannesburg, adding to a more than 60% plunge in the previous session. It was down about 34% in Frankfurt where it had had its primary listing since 2015.

Steinhoff sought to give “additional comfort” to investors worried about its ability to fund its existing operations, saying it had “identified measures that would give it around 2 billion euros (US$2.4 billion) of additional liquidity.”

– Nampa/Reuters



CRH loses interest in PPC

Irish cement producer CRH, the world's third-largest building materials supplier by market value, had decided not to bid for rival PPC the South African company said yesterday.

Last month, CRH made an undisclosed cash bid for PPC and had been given time for due diligence and to submit an updated bid.

PPC, last month turned its back on a takeover attempt by AfriSam, backed by Canada's Fairfax Africa. However, regulations allow Fairfax until Dec. 12 to post its partial offer circular.

– Nampa/Reuters



NiceHash says bitcoin worth millions hacked

Cryptocurrency marketplace NiceHash said the contents of its bitcoin wallet had been stolen in a security breach and one executive said nearly US$64 million had been lost.

NiceHash head of marketing Andrej P. Å kraba said yesterday that the hack was “a highly professional attack with sophisticated social engineering” and that about 4 700 bitcoin, worth about US$63.92 million at current prices, were lost.

He said the company was co-operating with local authorities but declined to give more information.

– Nampa/Reuters



Volkswagen exec gets 7 years for emissions fraud

A US-based Volkswagen AG executive who oversaw emissions issues was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined US$400 000 by a judge on Wednesday for his role in a diesel emissions scandal that has cost the German automaker as much as US$30 billion.

The prison sentence and fine for the executive, Oliver Schmidt, were the maximum possible under a plea deal in August the German national made with prosecutors after admitting to charges of conspiring to mislead US regulators and violate clean-air laws.

In March, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to three felony counts under a plea agreement to resolve US charges that it installed secret software in vehicles in order to elude emissions tests.

– Nampa/Reuters



Unilever fined for abuse of dominance

Italy's antitrust agency said on Wednesday it had fined Unilever's Italian unit more than 60 million euros (US$71 million) for abusing its dominant position in the country's ice cream market.

It said Unilever had abused its position in single-wrapped so-called impulse ice creams, intended for immediate consumption, which it sells through its “Algida” brand.

The local unit of the world's biggest ice cream maker said in a statement it rejected the agency's conclusion and would appeal.

– Nampa/Reuters