COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Ghana, Nigeria lead MTN growth
Ghana and Nigeria led the growth stakes during MTN's first financial quarter with the telecom company's overall pre-tax earnings rising 21%, according to an operational update released on Friday.
In South Africa, its second-biggest market after Nigeria, service revenue edged 4.6% higher. Tough operating conditions at home included the rampant power outages and constrained consumer spending, contributing to what is seen by the group "challenging operating environment".
"In South Africa, load shedding from the national grid has impacted network availability and we have to increase investment in batteries ahead of the winter period when we anticipate that the risk of load shedding may remain high," said Group CEO Ralph Mupita.
Eskom, the country's state-owned power supplier has been battling outages, with a record number of trips this year.
"Network availability and quality [have] been affected by load shedding from the national grid, as well as ongoing theft and vandalism of towers since the fourth quarter of 2021," the company said.-Fin24
AB InBev shielding beer lovers
AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris has assured beer lovers that they will be protected from inflation led price increases, thanks to the to the group’s risk policy.
Consumers and businesses alike have been grappling with rising inflation, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And while the South African Breweries (SAB) owner is not exempt from the impact, its long-time hedging policy is paying off.
Doukeris, who was speaking at a media roundtable on Thursday, explained that its exposure to different economies across the world means that it has had to deal with inflation as low as 1% to 2% and a staggering 50% to 60% in other countries.
Ab InBev has operations across all the major continents in the world.
As part of the policy to limit risk, the world's largest beer maker buys its raw materials in advance, which allows the group to plan its pricing in advance and shields it from rising costs.
Doukeris explained that as a result, the company can hold off product price increases for a long time and then phase them in when required, instead of doing so at once. -Fin24
De Beers can’t fill the gap of rising prices
Prices are surging in some corners of the rough-diamond market, as sanctions on one of the world’s two giant miners ripple through the supply chain. In the past, the industry could turn to behemoth De Beers to crank out extra gems when supply ran tight — but not this time.
The price of a small rough diamond, the type that would end up clustered around the solitaire stone in a ring, has jumped about 20% since the start of March, according to people familiar with the matter. The reason: Diamond cutters, polishers and traders are struggling to source stones after the US levied sanctions on De Beers’s Russian rival, Alrosa PJSC, which accounts for about a third of global production.
For most of the modern history of diamonds, this is the sort of situation where De Beers could have tapped its vast stockpiles or simply fired up latent mining capacity. Little more than 20 years ago, its safes in London held stocks of diamonds worth perhaps as much as US$5 billion.
Those days are now long gone. The company only carries working inventory stocks and its mines are running at full tilt. There is little chance of material increases in supply before 2024, when an expansion at its flagship South African mine will be completed. -Fin24
Dis-Chem has launched an investigation
Pharmacy retailer Dis-Chem has launched an investigation into a data hack at one of its third-party service providers that resulted in an "unauthorised person" accessing the personal details of customers.
In a notice on Wednesday, Dis-Chem said its investigation so far showed that the hacker gained access to first names, surnames, email addresses and cellphone numbers belonging to more than 3.6 million people.
The retailer said it was informed about the breach - which took place in April - at the beginning of this month. It has since taken steps to establishing the scope of the breach and restore the "integrity" of its operating system.
"Please note there is currently no indication that any personal information has been published or misused as a result of the incident. However, we cannot guarantee that this position will remain the same in future," Dis-Chem cautioned.
The retailer added that it was continuing to monitor for any publication of the personal information accessed in the breach. -Fin24
Transnet boosts jet fuel supply
Following the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, Transnet is adding 20 million litres of jet fuel to its supply between the National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref) and OR Tambo International Airport as its railway line repairs begin.
The state-owned company currently transports 14 million litres of jet fuel per week, through the National Multi-Product Pipeline, from Durban.
"To supplement the weekly supply, 20 million litres of imported jet fuel has been injected into the pipeline in Durban, and is expected to reach Natref on 18 May 2022," said Transnet in a statement on Saturday.
The jet fuel, which Natref will store in its tanks, will boost supply by an average of five million litres per week for the next month.
Transnet is one of many South African companies whose operations were hit hard by the flooding. -Fin24