By Tawanda Musarurwa

HARARE - Origin Global Hold-ings' move to up its 67,64 per-cent stake in Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed horticultural firm Ariston appears to be bearing fruit, with the company indicat-ing that the proposed transac-tion now awaiting compliance with 'routine' regulatory require-ments.

Earlier indications by sources privy to the proposed deal pointed to Origin Global seeking to convert loans they extended to the company into equity as part of balance sheet restructuring.

Such a restructuring would natu-rally result in the majority share-holder boosting its equity in the horticultural firm.

In a cautionary to shareholders today, Ariston said the "transac-tion involves a proposal received by the board from the major

shareholder of the company, Origin Global Holdings which is undergoing the normal Zim-babwe Stock Exchange listing

requirements and other regula-tory requirements....."

Ariston’s long term borrowings stood at $7,2 million at the end of the full year to March 2015, a jump from $3 million in the pre-vious comparable period while short term debt fell from $11,1 million to about $8 million.

For the full year to March Ariston reported a loss of $820 000 from a profit of $980 000 registered in prior year on declining revenue.

Ariston is engaged in horticulture, tea, macadamia nut production, fishery, poultry production and supply of fresh farm produce, and its key divisions include South-down Estates, Claremont Estate, Kent Estate, and Fruit and Vege-table Company (FAVCO).●

News Update as @ 1530 hours, Tuesday 05 January 2016Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw

Ariston debt reduction plan edges closer

BH242

BH24 Reporter

HARARE -The value of mobile transactions declined between October and November 2015, largely due to a dip in transactions processed through the Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system.

According to statistics from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), a review of the month showed that mobile and internet transactions declined respectively while cash transactions increased.

The RBZ said the value of transac-tions processed through the RTGS system decreased by 10 percent to $3,55 billion, in November 2015, from $3,96 billion in Octo-ber 2015.

Over the same period, the vol-ume of transactions registered a decrease of 8,3 percent, from 156 428 to 143 435 transactions. The total value of mobile and internet based transactions declined from $585,7 million in October 2015, to $571,3 million in November 2015.

Card-based transactions declined

from $484,3 million in October 2015 to $477,9 million in Novem-ber 2015. This was largely attrib-utable to the late payment of sal-aries to civil servants and other companies.

The central bank indicated that the value of cheque transactions registered a $0,2 million increase from $11,8 million in October 2015 to $12 million in November 2015.

The total value of mobile and internet based transactions declined from $585,7 million in October 2015 to $571,3 million in November 2015.

Meanwhile, money supply during the period rose to 7,5 percent on the back of improved confidence in

the banking sector, said the RBZ.

“Annual growth in money supply surged to 7,5 percent in November 2015, from 3,2 percent in October 2015.

"On a monthly basis, broad money increased by 3,1 percent to $4,74 billion in November 2015. The increases partly reflected a marked improvement in confidence in the banking sector,” RBZ said.

The growth in annual broad money was due to the increases in savings deposits by 12,2 percent, demand deposits 11,8 percent, and long-term deposits 9,8 percent.

But, short-term deposits declined by 10,9 percent.●

3 NEws

Digital payments transactions take a dip

BH244

HARARE - Government is working on a raft of measures to address challenges that have been hin-dering increased participation of indigenous Zimbabweans in the local economy, Finance and Eco-nomic Development Minister Pat-rick Chinamasa said on Monday.

Minister Chinamasa told a press briefing that increased participa-tion of locals in the economy was a key enabler to economic growth.

“Foreign investment will come to complement what local partici-pants are doing. The ministry (of Finance) is going to address those bottleneck issues where we think we need to nature and enhance local participation in our economy,” he said.

“A lot of models are going to be worked out so that we enhance local participation in our economy.”

Minister Chinamasa said some of the challenges included lack of funding and insufficient entrepre-neurship skills.

“Those are the issues as we go

forward we are going to have to tackle and find creative ways of addressing them,” he said.

Speaking at the same event, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe gover-nor Dr John Mangudya said it was crucial for Zimbabwe to improve on domestic investment.

“Investment is not only foreign investment, we are talking about both domestic and foreign invest-ment, they are all needed. In fact when an economy has got more

domestic investment it means we keep more money in the econ-omy,” he said.

Zimbabwe has already crafted laws including the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act meant to increase the participa-tion of locals in the mainstream economy.

But, due to limited funding, many locals have failed to penetrate into the mainstream economy.

On top of trying to increase domestic investment, government is also working on a new 100 day Action Plan to improve the ease of doing business in the country and in turn attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Government has set a target of the first quarter of this year to achieve key reforms that will improve the ease of doing business.

Some of the reforms include amending the Companies Act, Shop licencing Act and the Pro-curement Act while also aiming to reduce the days it takes to reg-ister a business from 30 days to between 10 and 15 days.

FDI into Zimbabwe has been low over the years owing to a number of reasons including portrayal of the country as an unsafe invest-ment destination by Western media.

Investors have also been shunning Zimbabwe due to the negative view of the indigenisation laws the country is implementing.- New Ziana.●

5 NEws

Minister Chinamasa

Govt keen on increasing economic opportunities for locals

BH246

By Funny Hudzerema

HARARE - Total Gross Premium Written (GPW) by non-life rein-surers has increased by 7 percent from $56,25 million to $60,18 mil-lion for the half year ended June 30, 2015.

According to the latest non-life reinsurers report for the period released by the Insurance and Pensions Commission the increase in business of non-life reinsurers was attributed to an upsurge in the volume of business written in engineering and fire reinsurance which amounted to $2,21 million and $1,89 million respectively.

“Personal Liability and engineer-ing reinsurance were the fastest growing business classes in terms of GPW during the period under review while the bonds and health insurance recorded the highest percentage decreases in gross premium written,” said the IPEC.

The Gross premium written amounting to $5,49 million, which accounted for 9,12 percent of total GPW for the half year ended June,

30 2015, was sourced from out-side Zimbabwe.

The report indicated that GPW by reinsurers from the local market was in line with reinsurance pre-miums ceded by direct insurers implying reduced direct placement of business by local insurers to reinsurers outside Zimbabwe.

IPEC said there were no significant changes in the distribution of busi-

ness written with fire and motor reinsurance remaining the domi-nant classes of business.

The two business classes accounted for a total of 59,65 percent of total gross premium written during the half year ended June 30, 2015 compared to 62,47 percent reported in the compara-tive period in 2014.

Total assets for non-life reinsurers amounted to $128,02 million as at

30 June 2015, reflecting no signif-icant change from $128,10 million that was reported as at March 31, 2015.

The report by IPEC also indicated that there were no significant changes in the industry average retention ratio which was 67,12 percent for the half year ended June 30, 2015 compared to 66,64 percent reported in the compara-tive period in 2014.●

7 NEws

Non-life reinsurers GPw up 7pc

HARARE -The equities market continues on a downward trend in the new year. Today the main-stream industrial index lost 0.04 to close at 114.31 after croco-dile skin producer Padenga shed $0,0053 to trade at $0,07200 while First Mutual and Pearl Prop-erties both closed at $0,0220

after losing $0,0010 apiece.

Hotelier Meikles eased $0,0010 to trade at $0,084 and telecoms giant Econet shed $0,0009 to $0,2101.

On the upside Delta Bever-ages gained $0,0034 to close at $0,7000, NMBZ moved up

$0,0016 to settle at $0,0367 and Simbisa was up $0,0010 to $0,1570.

The mining index was flat at 24.27 as Bindura, Falgold, Hwange and RioZim maintained previous price levels at $0,0160, $0,0050, $0,0300 and $0,1040 respectively. - BH24 Reporter ●

ZsE8

Industrials extend losses

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BH249

MovERs CHANGE ToDAy PRICE UsC sHAKERs CHANGE ToDAy PRICE UsC

NMBZ 4.55 3.67 PADENGA -6.85 7.20

SIMBISA 0.64 15.70 FIRST MuTuAL -4.34 2.20

DELTA 0.48 70.00 PEARL -4.34 2.20

BARCLAyS -1.17 4.20

MEIKLES -1.17 8.40

ECONET -0.42 21.01

INDEx PREvIoUs ToDAy MovE CHANGE

INDuSTRIAL 114.35 114.31 -0.04 points -0.03%

MINING 24.27 24.27 +0.00 POINTS +0.00%

10 ZsE TABlEs

ZsE

INDICEs

stock Exchange

11 DIARy oF EvENTs

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

PowER GENERATIoN sTATs

Gen Station

05 January 2016

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 415 MW

Kariba 588 MW

Harare 0 MW

Munyati 15 MW

Bulawayo 18 MW

Imports 0-100 MW

Total 1058 Mw

THE BH24 DIARy

JoHANNEsBURG - South Afri-ca's rand was flat against the dollar on Tuesday, with traders and analysts expecting side-ways trade as the market slowly gets back to full steam after the year-end break.

Stocks opened a touch firmer, with the JSE securities exchange's Top-40 index adding 0,45 percent.

By 0700 GMT the rand traded at 15,540 against the dollar, just 0,06 percent firmer than Mon-day's New york close.

Government bonds were slightly firmer with the bench-mark 2026 instrument yielding

2 basis points lower at 9,705 percent.

The rand weakened about 25 percent versus the dollar in 2015 on concerns about weak local growth and as expecta-tions of higher uS interest rates dented appetite for emerging markets.

"Given the tough end to the year ... it is to be expected that trades will not try and get too involved just yet and are pos-sibly hoping for some sort of decent liquidity to drift back into the market," Standard Bank trader Warrick Butler said.

- Reuters●

REGIoNAl NEws 12

Rand flat, stocks open a touch firmer Angola's kwanza weakens more than 15pc against dollar - cbank

lUANDA - Angola's kwanza tumbled more than 15 percent against the dollar on Monday, central bank data showed, as Africa's second-largest oil exporter reels from weak global oil prices and high demand for the more stable dollar.

In addition to the fall in the price of oil, domestic petrol prices rose sharply on Jan. 1 as the government cut its subsidies, in a move likely to push up inflation and weaken the domestic currency further.

Data on the Bank of Angola website showed the kwanza was officially bid at 154,835 against the greenback com-pared with 134,573 on Dec. 31.

"This is an adjustment to reduce the gap between the exchange rate from the cen-tral bank and the exchange rate from the street market, which is the real market," chief executive officer of state-owned Bank of Com-merce and Industry, Jorge Peres said.

The kwanza is now down more than 50 percent since January 2015.

- Reuters●

Oil held losses below $37 a barrel before uS government stockpile and production data and as China moved to support its markets after a broader slump on Monday.

Futures were little changed in New york after falling 0,8 percent Mon-day. uS crude inventories were probably unchanged last week, keeping supplies more than 130 million barrels above the five-year average, a Bloomberg sur-vey showed before government data Wednesday. China-controlled funds bought equities and regula-tors signaled a selling ban on major investors will remain beyond this week’s expiration date, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oil capped the biggest two-year loss on record in 2015 as ample uS crude stockpiles sustained a supply glut and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries effectively abandoned production limits.

As investors assess the impact of Saudi Arabia cutting ties with Iran, they are also watching measures by China to prevent the country’s financial-market volatility from weighing on an already-slowing economy.

“It’s going to be a very volatile

year for oil,” Evan Lucas, a mar-ket strategist at IG Ltd. In Mel-bourne, said by phone. “There will be spikes, there will be bad news with supply increases, it’s going to be very tricky. Prices are likely to remain at current levels, possibly go slightly lower.”

oil stockpiles

West Texas Intermediate for Febru-ary delivery was trading at $36,83 a barrel, up 7 cents, at 3:27 p.m. Hong Kong time on the New york Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 28 cents to close at $36,76 on Monday after advancing as much as 3.6 percent amid the height-ened Middle East tension. Prices

slid 30 percent last year.

Brent for February settlement was unchanged at $37,22 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract dropped 6 cents on Monday. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of 39 cents to WTI.

u.S. crude stockpiles probably remained unchanged at 487.4 mil-lion barrels last week, according to the median estimate in a Bloomb-erg survey before a report from the Energy Information Adminis-tration. Refinery rates increased by 0.2 percentage points to 92,8 percent of capacity, the survey shows.

China Rout

Chinese government funds pur-chased local stocks on Tuesday after a 7 percent tumble in the CSI 300 Index on Monday trig-gered a market-wide trading halt, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the buy-ing wasn’t publicly disclosed. The China Securities Regulatory Com-mission asked bourses verbally to tell listed companies that the six-month sales ban on major stock-holders will remain valid beyond Jan. 8, the people said.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran fol-lowing an attack on its embassy in Tehran by demonstrators pro-testing the execution of a promi-nent Shiite cleric. While the Sau-dis’ move to isolate Iran raises the specter of deepening conflicts in the Middle East, the impact on prices is limited because of the global surplus, according to Mac-quarie Group Ltd. and FGE, an industry consultant.

Saudi Arabia produced 10.25 mil-lion barrels of oil a day in Decem-ber, helping to keep daily OPEC output above 32 million barrels for a seventh month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. - Bloomberg●

INTERNATIoNAl NEws 13

oil holds loss before Us data as China seeks market support

By Cecilia Jamasmie

Despise missing expectations for the year, uranium —the radioactive material used as fuel for power-generation plants— has emerged as the best-performing mining com-modity of 2015.

Spot uranium prices last traded at $35,80 per pound, less than the expected $40 per pound expected, but on track for gains of 0,85 percent since starting the year at $35,50/lb, according to Australian invest-ment bank, Macquarie.

The metal that powers nuclear reactors has been gradually recovering from a sharp decline in the wake of Japan’s Fukus-hima disaster in 2011, and analysts expect the commodity to continue putting a smile on investors’ faces next year, as prices are set to keep climbing.

Credit Suisse, for one, fore-casts that spot uranium prices will gain in 2016 to average $40 a pound, before reaching $45 in 2017, $50 in 2018 and

$60 a pound in 2019.

Investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald is also bullish on uranium, anticipating a supply crunch in the near future, as the drive for "clean" sources of energy encourages countries to use non-polluting fuels, Invest-ing News reported:

“Cantor Fitzgerald estimates global uranium demand for 2017 and 2018 at 198 million pounds and 201 million pounds u3O8, respectively; as of 2017,

about 25 million pounds u3O8 will be uncovered, with that number falling to 40 million pounds by 2018. These num-bers translate into uncovered amounts of 13 and 20 percent, respectively, with the uncov-ered portion growing at a rapid rate in the following years.

“What’s more, available sup-ply from stockpiles and exist-ing uranium operations likely won’t be able to match the new demand coming into the mar-ket.”

Asian demand

That demand is likely to come mainly from Asia, particularly from China, which is aiming to have 58 gigawatts of nucle-ar-generating capacity by 2020. Of the 64 reactors cur-rently under construction glob-ally, 21 are in China, accord-ing to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In fact, the Asian giant is on track to replace the uS as the world's top uranium consumer, according to Washington D.C.'s Center for Strategic and Inter-national Studies.

Demand from Japan and India are also expected to push pro-cess higher. Tokyo restarted two nuclear energy facili-ties earlier this year and has approved the restarting of two more in 2016, although this is subject to an injunction appeal.

India, in turn, plans to produce 25 percent of its electricity from nuclear power by 2050, according to the World Nuclear Association. - Mining.com ●

14 analysis14 ANAlysIs

This was the top-performing mining commodity of 2015