COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

South African Airways may exit administration

South African Airways (SAA) may exit administration later this month and a decision on an equity partner for it could be made by the end of March, the ministry responsible for the state-owned airline said on Wednesday.

SAA has been under a local form of bankruptcy protection since December 2019, and its longstanding financial woes worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic. It suspended all operations around the end of September.

The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) said at a virtual meeting of a parliamentary committee that the remainder of a R 10.5 billion (US$702.4 million) bailout could flow to the airline now an appropriation act had been passed.

So far 2.8 billion rand of the bailout has been transferred to SAA, the department's presentation showed.

The DPE's presentation said a plan for SAA to resume operations had not yet been agreed. It added that it had received expressions of interest from potential partners in SAA Group and its subsidiaries. - Nampa/Reuters

Vodafone's confidence increases

Vodafone's organic service revenue returned to growth in the mobile phone company's third quarter, with a rise of 0.4% soundly beating analysts' expectations for a fall of 0.1% and bolstering confidence in the group's outlook.

Chief Executive Nick Read said there was momentum across the business, including in its largest market Germany. "Our good trading performance underscores our confidence in the outlook for the full year," he said on Wednesday.

The world's second largest mobile operator reiterated its guidance for adjusted earnings for the year to end-March of 14.4 billion to 14.6 billion euros, compared with 14.5 billion for the previous year, and to generate at least 5 billion euros in free cash flow.

Vodafone's organic service revenue was down 0.4% in the second quarter and down 1.3% in the first quarter. Read said the listing of the group's new infrastructure company Vantage Towers was firmly on track for early this year.

Germany produced the biggest quarter-on-quarter improvement among Vodafone's major European markets, with service revenue growing by 1.0% in the quarter. - Nampa/Reuters

Anglo sales exceed pre-pandemic levels

Miner Anglo American said on Wednesday its diamond unit recorded higher sales in the first cycle of 2021, boosted by robust demand ahead of the Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day.

The upbeat report comes at a time when the diamond industry has been struggling with falling sales and prices as the Covid-19 pandemic hammered demand and the ensuing lockdowns prevented buyers from travelling to auction sites.

"While risks to recovery as a result of ongoing restrictions on the movement of both people and goods persist, we have been encouraged by demand conditions," said Bruce Cleaver, chief executive officer of De Beers Group.

Anglo American said demand for rough diamonds in the first cycle was also lifted by midstream customers restocking to fill in low levels of inventories in the United States.

The company said the value of rough diamond sales for De Beers' first sales cycle of 2021 was US$650 million, compared with US$551 million last year, well before the Covid-19 outbreak hit an already weakened diamond market. -Nampa/Reuters

Exxon investors unhappy after historic loss

Dozens of unhappy investors told Exxon Mobil Corp. on Tuesday to move more quickly and forcefully to improve returns and focus on clean energy, hours after the oil company reported an historic annual loss and said it added a new director to its board.

Exxon reported a net annual loss of US$22.4 billion for 2020 and named Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, the former head of Malaysia's state oil company, as an independent director.

The board change failed to mollify critics who want Irving, Texas-based Exxon to overhaul itself by focusing more on clean energy to improve its financial performance.

"Today's patchwork of announcements do not materially alter ExxonMobil's long-term trajectory nor do they position it to succeed in a changing world," said Engine No. 1, an activist investment firm.

A coalition of investors that includes Seattle City Employees Retirement System, Dana Investment Advisors and Members of the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility and invests more than US$2 trillion told Exxon on Tuesday they are unhappy and will speak publicly and privately. -Nampa/Reuters

Mazda may cut global vehicle output

Mazda Motor Corp is considering cutting its global output by 34 000 vehicles in February and March due to a chip shortage, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Last week, Mazda was considering cutting output of models that include its CX-5 and CX-30 SUVs, as well as the Mazda 3 sedan, due to a shortage in supplies of chips used for brake systems and safety components, said the sources, who declined to be identified.

The company plans to reduce its domestic output of the CX-5 by around 3 900 vehicles this month, they said. As of last week, it was considering reducing production of the SUV by about 6 000 vehicles in March, the sources said.

The semiconductor shortage, which in some cases has been exacerbated by the former US administration's actions against chip factories in China, is now causing global automakers to curtail production and shut assembly lines.

Mazda is also considering an output cut in Japan, China and Mexico for the Mazda 3 and the CX-30 models, the sources told Reuters.- Nampa/Reuters