South Africa’s heavily indebted sugar producer Tongaat Hulett is in a deadlock over the sale of its starch business to Barloworld over a condition set during the signing of deal.

Tongaat agreed to sell the business to Barloworld for 5.35 billion rand ($290.70 million), including debt, in February.

The deal is subject to certain conditions including that no “material adverse changes” (MAC) must occur after the signing of the agreement that could affect the business.

Barloworld said in a statement that a MAC had occurred given the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which is likely to lead to a drop of about 82.5% in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at the starch business for the financial year ending March 31, 2021.

South African supermarket chain Pick n Pay Stores Ltd reported a 0.6% dip in full-year earnings on Tuesday and scrapped its annual dividend to preserve cash, sending its shares almost 9% lower.

Pick n Pay, which also sells clothes, said comparable headline earnings per share (HEPS), the most widely used profit measure in South Africa, for the 52-weeks ended March 1 fell to 278.81 cents from 280.60 cents a year earlier.

It said in statement that the group traded in difficult economic conditions throughout the year, with low growth, high unemployment, rising household costs and constrained consumer spending in all regions.

Pick n Pay, with more than 1,800 stores in South Africa and Zimbabwe, said the group delivered turnover growth of 4.7% in a tough trading environment, with operational challenges in the second half of the year including the impact of power outages and some supply chain labour disruption.

Platinum producer Sibanye Stillwater on Tuesday posted a sharp rise in first-quarter core earnings, benefiting from higher metal prices and robust output from its South Africa and U.S. operations.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization rose to 11.13 billion rand ($601.10 million) for quarter ended March 31, from 808 million rand a year earlier.

The Receiver of GN Savings and Loans Company, has been given a deadline of May 21, to file a response to the suit challenging the revocation of the company’s license. The deadline was given after the Receiver failed to meet the 10-day period given to it and two other defendants to file their responses.

The two other defendants; the Bank of Ghana and the Attorney General, have since filed their defences.

Chairman of Groupe Nduom, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom and other shareholders of GN Savings filed an application at the High Court on August 30, 2019, to challenge the revocation of their license.

They described the revocation as “malicious, accusing the BoG of deliberately refusing to consider the entire portfolio of GN Savings’ assets in coming to the conclusion that GN Savings was insolvent.

The Ghana Peasant Farmers Association, has advised government to have a long-term plan to cushion farmers against unforeseen circumstances and pandemics like COVID-19.

The Association says the outbreak of COVID-19 should serve as a guide to protect farmers against natural occurrences that may affect food production and threaten food security.

Following the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus in the country, farmers have also been affected by the situation as the closure of borders has led to a shortage in the supply of farm inputs.

A Programmes Officer with the Ghana Peasant Farmers Association, Bismark Owusu Nortey, while speaking to Citi Business News, said it is time to look beyond COVID-19 and put in sustainable measures to protect farmers in the future.

He said it is important for us to look beyond the novel Coronavirus pandemic and think of other emergencies that might come up and see how we can put into place measures to address any issues that will affect farming.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that 10,000 Kogi State Government workers are to benefit from the approved N10bn Agribusiness Alternative Retirement Investment Scheme scheduled to take off soon.

The consultant in charge of the scheme, Mr. Joseph Idoko, who disclosed this while addressing newsmen on Monday in Lokoja, said the CBN had already approved the fund for the scheme.

Idoko hinted that the programme, an offshoot of the CBN Anchor Borrowers Scheme, was specifically an indirect cluster farming investment for the workers, with oil palm and its value chain as mandate crop.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Monday approved the reappointment of a 12-member Dispute Resolution Panel for the Nigerian electricity supply industry.

According to the commission, the appointment of the members was in line with Section 42.1.3 of the Market Rules, which empowered the NERC to constitute the panel.

NERC in a statement issued in Abuja said that the functions of the panel, as spelt out in Section 42.3.7 of the Market Rules, include the arbitration and settlement of disputes between market participants in the Nigerian electricity market.

It outlined participants in the country’s power market to include the system operator, the market operator and other licensees engaged in the trading of electricity.

The dollar exchanged for N445 in the parallel market on Monday due to scarcity and shrinking liquidity in the forex market.

The extension of the ban placed on flights in the country by the Federal Government, as part of efforts to curtail the spread of coronavirus, further affected the access to forex by the bureau de change operators.

President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said, the extension of airport lockdown as well as sale of forex to the BDCs pending when air travels resume has impacted the naira negatively from N425/$ to $445/$ in the parallel market.

He however said the assurances of the CBN governor to foreign investors on ease of exit have helped to flatten the curve at N445/$ without any sign of further depreciation at the close of business today.

According to a European Commission filing on Monday, EU antitrust regulators will decide by June 17 whether to clear Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA $50 billion merger.

The companies announced the deal to create the world’s fourth biggest carmaker in December, putting under one roof the Italian company’s brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Maserati and the French company’s Peugeot, Opel and DS.

Fiat and PSA sought EU approval on Friday, the Commission site showed.

EU competition enforcers can approve the deal with or without conditions or open a full-scale investigation of about four months following the end of the preliminary review should they have deep concerns.

Asian equity markets rallied Monday as traders looked past a staggering jump in US job losses to focus on governments easing virus lockdown measures and data showing death rates falling in some of the worst-hit countries.

Observers warned, however, that with the outlook still murky, traders could be getting ahead of themselves while there are concerns of a second wave hitting South Korea and China, which had been slowly reopening their economies.

Reading was slightly lower than forecasts and Wall Street ended a healthy week with strong gains as focus turned to plans to lift restrictions that have kept billions of people stuck at home for months in the US and the rest of the world.