In a busy day of corporate news, Astral Foods announced that it had sold its Quantum block after taking comfort in a long-term contract for egg supply. In international news, the UK has cut capital gains tax on real estate, and Brazil has received significant investment from Toyota.
Astral Foods, South Carolina's largest chicken group, announced Wednesday that it has divested its 9.8% stake in Quantum Foods, South Wales' largest egg producer. R141.7 million, comparable to Country Bird Holdings. Astral did not require regulatory approval for this transaction. At the time, the group, now valued at more than R6 billion on the JSE, said it needed to ensure the company's independence amid a battle for shares by third parties, raising fears of a takeover. Astral CEO Chris Schutte said in a statement on Wednesday that there were “unmitigated risks that the group must manage” when Astral acquired a 9.8% stake in Quantum in June 2020. Stated. “These risks were centered around securing the supply of live broilers from Quantum to Astral's county fair operations in the Western Cape. We are supplying 600,000 broilers, which represents approximately 35% of the County Fair's total slaughter capacity.'' There is a five-year term remaining on the existing broiler supply contract, and Astral has The company said it had sufficient time to take mitigation measures if the supply contract was threatened at the time of termination, while realizing investments in illiquid equity. premium. The proceeds exceeded the book value of Astral's investments by R97.8 million at the end of September, boding well for its battered balance sheet.
Mustek, which assembles and sells computers and energy products and provides ICT services, reported on Wednesday that sales fell 13% to R4.3 billion and profits more than halved to R52.3 million in the six months to the end of December as it grappled with falling demand for green energy products. Demand for green energy products was down about 55% year over year, while other businesses were more stable. The company said that the economic situation remains difficult and that PC demand has decreased after the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection, but is stabilizing. Mustek added that he is cautiously optimistic that AI PC will bring new growth potential to his PC market. The group's shares have fallen by more than a third over the past year and closed slightly lower.
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