Company news in brief
Mboweni back on Discovery’s boardFormer South African finance minister Tito Mboweni is back on the board of Discovery, it was announced on Friday.In a notice to shareholders, Discovery said he had been appointed as an independent non-executive director of Discovery and Discovery Life Limited, as a member of the Risk and Compliance Committee as well as the Remuneration Committee.
The appointment is effective immediately.
Mboweni previously served on the board of Discovery from 2013 to 2018.
“Given Discovery’s continued global expansion including into the African continent, Mr Mboweni will be hugely valuable to the Discovery board and its committees as his appointment will bring a wealth of experience in finance, economics, and business advisory within emerging markets to the Bboard and respective board committees,” said the notice.
Mboweni, who was finance minister from 2018 to 2021 and stepped down as a member of Parliament at the beginning of 2022, was also governor of the SA Reserve Bank from 1999 until 2009. – Fin24
Hydrogen trucks start work at AngloAnglo American unveiled the world’s biggest green-hydrogen powered truck at a platinum mine in northeast South Africa where it aims to replace a fleet of 40 diesel-fuelled vehicles that each use about a million liters of the fossil fuel every year.
The NuGen project at the Mogalakwena mine, owned by Anglo American subsidiary Anglo American Platinum, will use power from a solar plant to supply a hydrogen electrolyzer to split water and provide the trucks, which can carry up 315 tons of ore each, with hydrogen fuel.
The project, which is expected to be fully implemented by 2026, is a first step in making eight of the company’s mines carbon neutral by 2030, according to Julian Soles, Head of Technology Development, Mining & Sustainability at Anglo American.
The company, which mines metals around the world ranging from iron ore and platinum to copper, has set a target of getting all of its operations to that status by 2040.
Anglo and its global mining peers are under increasing pressure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and improve their environmental performance. The company last year spun off its South African thermal coal assets while rivals such as Glencore have pledged to reduce their emissions. – Fin24/Bloomberg
Petrobras profits a ‘rape’Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday urged state-run oil company Petrobras not to raise fuel prices again, and compared the company’s profits to a “rape” of the country.
The far-right leader said a new fuel price hike by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, could bankrupt Brazil and cause what he called a “national convulsion”.
Petrobras pegs its fuel prices to international crude rather than subsidizing fuel for Brazilians, but many people have demanded that it limits price increases for petrol and diesel as both have soared recently, hurting Bolsonaro’s popularity ahead of an October presidential election.
“Petrobras, we are at war. Petrobras, do not raise fuel prices anymore. Your profit is like a rape, it is absurd,” Bolsonaro said during a weekly livestream on social media.
His remarks came as the oil giant reported its first quarter results, with net income jumping more than 40 times to 44.56 billion reais (R143 billion) as oil companies take advantage of rocketing crude prices. – Fin24/Reuters
Oceana shareholders hesitant about PwCOceana shareholders were reluctant to retain PwC as external auditors for the group, votes at this year’s annual general meeting (AGM) revealed.
Oceana owns canned fish brand Lucky Star and also has a presence in other global markets where it sells fishmeal, fish oil and fish. It also owns a logistics company specialising in cold storage and transport of products such as fish, fruit and vegetables, poultry and meat.
The AGM held on Thursday saw most of the resolutions passed with strong majority votes, bar that of the reappointment of PwC.
Shareholders holding 61.98% of shares were in favour, while those with the remaining 38.02% were against.
In a shareholder notice issued after the AGM, the board said that shareholders would be consulted regarding the external auditor, given the votes. - Fin24