Company news in brief

Eskom trims loss to R20.5 bnSouth African power utility Eskom slightly narrowed its net loss to R20.5 billion in the financial year that ended in March 2020 but expects a larger loss this year because of the impact of Covid-19, it said on Friday.The state company also said its debt rose to about R484 billion - equivalent to about 9% of the country's gross domestic product - from roughly R441 billion in March 2019.Eskom's financial performance last year - an improvement on a R20.9 billion loss in the year that ended March 2019 – was helped by a higher average electricity price, which lifted revenue. But that was countered to some extent by higher coal and debt-service costs.This year, Eskom sees an economic recession and uncertainty linked to the coronavirus pandemic hurting electricity sales, leading to a loss of R26.2 billion, it said.CEO Calib Cassim said it was not sustainable that gross interest costs were now the utility's second-largest cost item after coal costs - more than capital expenditure. – Nampa/ReutersVivo Energy resumes dividend payAfrica-focussed fuel retailer Vivo Energy said on Friday volume improved in the third quarter from the second as Covid-19 restrictions eased and it would pay a previously withdrawn 2019 final dividend.The company, which distributes Shell and Engen-branded fuels and lubricants, said third-quarter volume improved "significantly" from the second quarter to 2 492 million litres.Volume was, however, down 7% year-on-year, due to the ongoing localised restrictions in some key markets of the company.Vivo, which operates in 23 countries across Africa, said its gross cash profit for the quarter fell 1% to US$187 million.The company, which has a secondary listing on the JSE, had withdrawn its 2019 dividend in April amid pandemic-related disruptions. – Nampa/ReutersProsus to buy of its own, Naspers sharesDutch technology investor Prosus said on Friday it would buy back up to US$5 billion in its own and South African parent Naspers' shares, as part of efforts to narrow a discount between the companies' share prices and underlying assets.Prosus owns a 30.9% stake in Asia's online software and payments giant Tencent worth nearly 200 billion euro at Thursday's closing price. Prosus's own value was just 135 billion euro as of Thursday's close, including other investments in online classified, payment and food delivery businesses.Prosus said it would buy-back up to US$1.37 billion of its own stock and up to US$3.63 billion of Naspers' shares on the open market in a proposed transaction it expected to launch following the release of its interim results on 23 Nov.Prosus CEO Bob van Dijk said the company had looked at other options, including spending money on new large acquisitions but found buying back its own shares a better deal, pointing to the discount."Utilising cash to own more of our current portfolio through a purchase of our own shares - when the discount to NAV [net asset value] is sizeable - is a sensible use of capital," he said in a statement. – Nampa/ReutersSA watchdog approves Comair rescue dealSouth Africa's Competition Tribunal on Friday approved a rescue deal for struggling airline Comair on condition that the carrier freezes job cuts for three years and investors allocate shares to a special purpose black empowerment vehicle.Comair, which operates the British Airways franchise in South Africa and budget airline Kulula.com, was forced into a form of bankruptcy protection in May after South Africa's coronavirus lockdown halted its operations two months earlier.The administrators of the restructuring process presented a plan earlier in September which involved investors injecting fresh equity into the company.SA Bidco, which does not control any other firms, was created by the investors for the purpose of the Comair transaction and consists of former board members and executives.The tribunal said after the approved deal the company would not cut jobs for three years from the resumption of its operations, while making offers to the 200 employees it planned to lay off when jobs become available. – Nampa/ReutersGlencore beats production estimatesGlencore reported stronger third-quarter production but its shares fell after it lowered its 2020 coal production guidance by 5.7% as a strike at the Cerrejon mine in Colombia entered its 60th day on Friday.Cerrejon, owned equally by Glencore, BHP Group and Anglo American, has been in negotiations with its largest union and on Wednesday said that "significant advances" had been made.With Glencore's year-to-date coal production down 20% at 83.5 million tonnes, partly owing to the Cerrejon strike, the company downgraded its full-year output guidance to 109 million tonnes from 114 million tonnes.The group maintained its 2020 guidance for all other products.Copper production was up 17.6% from the previous quarter at 347 000 tonnes, partly because of an end to coronavirus-related mine shutdowns in various countries. – Nampa/Reuters

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