COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

MTN ordered to reverse tariff hikes in Nigeria

Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator ordered mobile telecommunication companies to reverse a 10% tariff hike that was meant to cover rising costs.

The Nigerian Communications Commission said in an emailed statement that its board didn’t approve the increase, which had been initially agreed with the companies. "As a result, it is reversed," it said.

Wireless service providers in the West African nation are facing increased operating costs, with inflation accelerating to a 17-year high of 20.8% in September. Cost pressure have been compounded by a weakening currency and more than a 200% jump in the price of diesel, which is required to power towers across the country due to the poor power supply.

MTN Nigeria is the biggest wireless operator in Africa’s most populous nation, while Airtel Africa, which listed in Lagos and London in 2019, vies with local operator Globacom for the No. 2 slot.

The regulator said that it had forced the reversal of a proposed 5% tax on telecommunication services earlier this year, "in order to maintain a conducive enabling environment for the telecom operators".

The government’s priority is "to protect the citizens", and "anything that will bring more hardship at this critical time will not be accepted", it said in its statement.

Rising living costs are a key issue in the country as it gears up for national elections in February next year. The ruling party faces stiff competition from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party, whose candidate has emerged as the frontrunner in three separate opinion polls. –Fin24



Clicks ups dividend

Clicks, which has a footprint of 840 stores, has upped its full-year dividend by almost a third after achieving double-digit retail sales growth. A recovery of beauty products supported this as South Africans spent more time outside their homes, and despite "severe headwinds" such as the July 2021 riots and intense load shedding.

The JSE-listed pharmaceutical retailer reported on Thursday that headline earnings rose 32% to R2.55 billion in its year to end-August, also getting a boost as it supported the rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations, lifting turnover by R1.1 billion, as well as an expansion of its store base. It said it was the largest vaccination provider in the private sector, having administered more than 3.5-million doses.

But, while it indicated it was continuing with its expansion strategy, increasing its target to 1 200 stores from 900 over the long term, Clicks also struck a cautious note, saying that trading conditions "will remain extremely constrained owing to the increasing pressures on consumer disposable income in the current low growth, high inflationary environment".

CEO Bertina Engelbrecht said in a statement that the pharmacy group had to contend not only with the effects of the July 2021 civil unrest on retail trading, but also much higher levels of load shedding in the second half of the year and depressed consumer spending.

"The performance for the year highlights the resilience of the group’s business model and the defensiveness of our core retail categories," she said.-Fin24





Eskom lenders hire PwC

Lenders to Eskom have hired financial advisers as South Africa’s state-owned power utility restructures its business.

The banks asked consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers to assist them with negotiations, said people familiar with the matter, who aren’t authorised to talk about it and asked not to be identified. Representatives for Eskom and PwC didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bondholders appointed advisers Moelis & Co. and law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld earlier this year. Eskom is working with its own adviser Lazardto split its transmission, generation and distribution units to help manage its debt and improve performance.

In order to implement the unbundling of the transmission units, Eskom needs the consent from some of its lenders, according to a presentation to investors in June. The company issued a formal request of consent to all necessary creditors earlier this year.

The latest appointment comes as the utility and government face mounting criticism for South Africa’s worst-ever blackouts. Eskom’s plants, responsible for supplying more than 90% of the country’s electricity, keep breaking down. The company recently revamped its board to tackle the crisis.-Fin24





Google fined R2.9bn by Indian watchdog

Google has been fined more than US$160 million by India's anti-trust watchdog after a probe found the tech behemoth was abusing its commanding position in the local smartphone market.

The California-based company's Android mobile operating system is by far the dominant player in India and is run on 95 percent of all the country's smartphones, according to research agency Counterpoint.

But the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said Google had configured the platform to unlawfully crowd out rivals to its popular apps, including YouTube and web browser Chrome.

Android had a suite of Google apps pre-installed on its phones, including the company's own search engine, "which accorded significant competitive edge to Google's search services over its competitors", a CCI statement said late Thursday.

"Markets should be allowed to compete on merits and the onus is on (Google) that its conduct does not impinge this competition on merits," it added.

The commission levied a fine of 13.4 billion rupees (US$162 million) and instructed the company not to force Android users to pre-install its apps.-Fin24