Cape Times

Heartwood Properties has been approved for a secondary listing on A2X Markets. Heartwood is currently listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange and will retain its primary listing there. Heartwood’s shares will commence trading on A2X on Monday, February 2, 2026. Heartwood is a commercial and industrial property investment and development company with a portfolio concentrated primarily in the Western Cape. The company’s decision to list on A2X forms part of its ongoing focus on enhancing shareholder value and broadening market access. The secondary listing provides Heartwood shareholders with more choice. By listing on A2X Heartwood Properties is now able to provide access to the both the retail market through the Cape Town Stock Exchange and the institutional market through A2X. A2X is South Africa’s licensed stock exchange focused on…

South Africa’s wine export sector recorded stable value performance over the past year despite declining volumes, as producers navigated a challenging global trading environment marked by softer consumption, rising tariffs and increased trade complexity, Wines of South Africa said in a statement on Monday. Global wine consumption continued to weaken amid economic pressure, while trade barriers and higher tariffs added further strain to exporters. Against this backdrop, South Africa’s wine industry maintained its focus on sustaining value in established markets while expanding into developing and emerging regions, particularly across Africa and Asia. Total wine exports reached 264 million litres during the period, with exports accounting for 40% of total sales compared with 60% in the domestic market. Export value amounted to R9.8 billion, representing a 2.4% year-on-year decline, despite…

Germany has offered South Africa loans at significantly below-market rates, with longer tenures and grace periods, German Special Envoy for the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), Rainer Baake, has said. Briefing the media on the current state of the JETP, Baake said the National Treasury had also confirmed the highly concessional nature of the financing, which he said was lower than listed debt market rates. Baake steered clear of directly addressing comments by Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, made on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week. Ramokgopa had said Eskom would need to turn to other, more affordable funding options—such as banks, private investors, and the bond market—after a pledge of more than R213 billion by major Western powers was rejected due…

Economists have offered mixed reactions to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s upbeat assessment of South Africa’s economic recovery, warning that while several indicators have improved, growth remains too weak to deliver meaningful job creation and sustained investment. On Monday, Ramaphosa said that in the last months of 2025, South Africa saw a number of indicators that collective efforts to rebuild the economy are bearing fruit. “The economy has posted four consecutive quarters of growth. There has been a steady reduction in unemployment, while recent data released by Statistics South Africa shows that levels of poverty and inequality have declined considerably. Confidence in our economy is rising, the stock exchange has been performing well, and the average inflation rate is the lowest it has been in two decades,” he said. Ramaphosa added that…

Current rally bodes well for South Africa’s economy as jittery investors seek safe havens The current rally in the gold price to new higher levels above $5 000 per ounce bode well for South Africa’s economy and local bullion producers, analysts said on Monday as jittery global investors whetted their appetite for safe haven assets due to international trade and geopolitical upheavals. Gold prices rocketed past $5 000 per ounce Monday morning as the US Dollar weakened against other international and emerging currencies. Appetite for South African assets also yielded up, with the rand breaching the R16 to the dollar threshold, leaving analysts’ eyebrows for further prospects leveled at the R15:$1 level. Market analyst Simon Brown told Business Report that the rally in the price of gold would be beneficial…

Boards are rarely judged on the quality of their frameworks. Policies, charters and codes create structure, but they do not decide. Governance is tested in moments where rules are silent, information is incomplete and timing matters more than certainty. Boards are ultimately judged on the quality of their judgement when it matters most. Most boards operate within well defined governance architectures. Delegations are clear. Reporting cycles are established. Assurance mechanisms are in place. Yet governance failures continue to occur, often in organisations that appear compliant, stable and well governed on paper. The explanation is rarely the absence of rules. It is the quality of judgement exercised when those rules do not offer clear direction. Judgement is tested when risk is credible but not provable. When ethical discomfort exists without a…