ZPPS

Telkom enables single number use


Telkom Business has introduced a Single Number service that links a landline telephone number to multiple phones, including mobile devices.

Telkom Business explained that its Single Number service ensures that “business clients are always reachable and never miss that all important call”.

“This service will enable Telkom Business customers to answer calls anywhere and from any phone,” Telkom said.

Single Number’s simultaneous ringing option enables all connected phones to ring at the same time, allowing the business to answer wherever is most convenient at any given moment.

Single Number allows calls to reach a business even if the landline goes down as a result of cable theft or weather.

“Furthermore, the solution can be easily scaled as Telkom customers can add and remove phones at an instant from a self-service portal,” Telkom said.

Customers will be charged a once-off activation fee of R30 and a monthly subscription that starts at R99.

Calling Single Number will result in normal call charges to a landline for the caller, irrespective of whether the call is answered on a mobile phone, ensuring that the caller has peace of mind and is charged minimally.

Single Number also links other network operators’ mobile customers, and calls answered on these phones will result in charges at standard rates.

Business rescue under scrutiny as remedies fail to save stricken firms


The efficacy of the business rescue process is under the spotlight, with questions being asked whether it is actually helping to salvage financially troubled companies as intended.

The Department of Trade and Industry and the special committee on company law chaired by Michael Katz have commissioned a study of the dynamics of the system, established three years ago under the new Companies Act.

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) is also looking to tighten regulations on business rescue practitioners who take over the management of troubled companies to revive them.

According to the CPIC’s latest statistics there have been 1,398 business rescue proceedings since May 2011, when the regime was introduced. By last month, 939 of these were still active and 459 had terminated — 172 on substantial implementation or completion of the rescue plan, 176 on abandonment of the project and 101 by means of liquidation.

University of Pretoria business management professor Marius Pretorius, who will undertake the study, roughly estimates that the success rate for business rescue could be as low as 12%, largely due to many practitioners’ "incompetence".

Resistance on the part of banks had not helped, especially when withholding finance once the rescue process had begun.

Prof Pretorius said banks and practitioners blamed each other. "The practitioners blame the banks for not supporting business rescue, and the banks blame the practitioners for being incompetent."

He warns the industry could get a bad reputation, especially among banks, which could opt for liquidation instead. But he says it is still early days to pass judgment. "The good business rescue practitioners are using it well but, just as with liquidations, there are lots of unscrupulous people. There are many complaints about exorbitant fees, practitioners stretching the process, failure to report."

One of the weaknesses of the South African system, Prof Pretorius said, was that it had no dedicated courts with specialist judges. This had resulted in contradictory judgments being handed down. "Every time a judge is appointed he might never have seen a case of business rescue and has to start from scratch," he said.

Another problem is that the act provides for two objectives: reorganisation of the business, or if this is not possible, a better return for creditors, which Prof Pretorius said is basically a "glorified liquidation".

Also, as secured creditors, the banks tend to dominate. "If the bank has more than 25% of the voting powers, it has full power, as you need 75% of the votes to approve a plan." If they don’t vote in the plan, the company goes into liquidation, which could be the better option for the banks, which often want their money quickly.

The Banking Association of Southern Africa’s GM for regulatory and legal affairs, Nicky Lala Mohan, strongly rejected the suggestion banks were resistant.

"I don’t think there is resistance. There have been a lot of business rescues that have gone through successfully with the co-operation of banks," he said.

"More often than not the business rescue proposition presented to the banks is a no-go from the start."

The CIPC has begun to add further conditions to the licences it issues to practitioners for each individual case of business rescue to compel them to comply with the Companies Act.

CIPC deputy commissioner Rory Voller said some practitioners failed to abide by the rules on timelines, reporting, calling of meetings and notification to interested parties. They have been accused of extending the process beyond the three months stipulated without filing the necessary reports in order to earn more fees, even though there is no prospect of the company being rescued.

"We want to play a bigger role as far as the business practitioner regulation is concerned. If we issue a licence and there is a complaint, we can withdraw the licence," Mr Voller said.

SA's economic growth likely to be cut


The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to cut South Africa’s economic growth forecast for the third time in under a year as it becomes clear that Eskom’s limited electricity supply and repeated strikes are weighing on economic growth.

SA’s growth forecast likely to be cut for the third time The IMF cut South Africa’s economic growth forecast for this year to 2.3% in April from 2.8% in January and 2.9% last October.

Another cut by the IMF will be a blow to the government as it tries to rebuild confidence in the economy after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) cut South Africa’s rating to one level above junk last month.

IMF senior representative in SA Axel Schimmelpfennig said on Wednesday that incoming data and developments since the April growth projections had been weaker than anticipated.

"Later this month the IMF will release its July world economic outlook update and I would expect that we will revise down South Africa’s growth outlook for 2014, in line with other observers," he said.

South Africa’s challenges are both home-grown and globally inspired. Strikes and power outages are contributing to low output, while a sluggish pace of recovery in the global economy prevents a strong pick-up in export volumes.

Higher global economic growth and demand would benefit local exports, although South Africa might have to wait longer for this. IMF MD Christine Lagarde warned recently that global growth could underperform for a while longer.

A strike at platinum mines — the longest the country has seen — ended towards the end of last month and was the main factor behind faltering economic growth in the first half of the year.

HSBC SA economist David Faulkner said on Wednesday that a rebound in economic growth was "far from assured", even though the strike had been resolved.

The Reserve Bank cut its economic growth forecast to 2.1% from 2.6%, which is slightly more optimistic than some projections.