Gremlins not so remote at the Remgro AGM
Remgro’s remote annual general meeting this week suffered technical hiccups, which was frustrating for investors wanting to hear worldly-wise group chair Johann Rupert speak.
Commendably, Remgro issued a detailed transcript of the event, but most market watchers will be hoping for a more vibrant physical assembly of shareholders in Somerset West next year.
One of the interesting inquiries at the AGM was whether there was anything in particular that excited Rupert, whose family still controls Remgro, about the investment behemoth’s prospects for the next five to 10 years considering the challenging business environment.
Perhaps unsurprisingly Rupert said that “all we can do is be very prudent and maintain our liquidity and solvency”, and the companies that survive would do “very well”.
While apologising for being unable to be more optimistic, he stressed that at least corruption in SA was starting to be taken seriously. Rupert said that when he raised concern more than five years ago, it led to an outcry at the time. But he said the tide was turning, adding that people generally were shocked by the rampant theft of relief funds during the pandemic.
“This was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said.
Tackling corruption was what investors wanted to see: “Investors don’t want to invest in places that they view as corrupt. Without investments, we won’t have economic growth, and without economic growth we won’t have job creation ... so at least it is trending in the right direction. But the global economy is problematic, so we will continue to remain cautious.”
DUAL-SIM SMARTPHONES COME OF AGE
Gone are the days when dual-SIM phones were seen as cheap, poor quality, knock-off products.
Dual-SIM devices take two SIM cards, while standard phones take one. The feature has long been associated with lowend devices. In recent years, adoption by premium brands such as Apple has made the concept more palatable to mainstream consumers.
But new models from the likes of Samsung take things further with e-SIMs (electronic SIMs). Such devices now have one e-SIM embedded in the hardware and one physical SIM, which means a person can have more than one number on the same device and switch between the two.
SA’s second-largest mobile provider, MTN, has extended its e-SIM coverage to smartphones that will include Apple’s latest iPhone 12 and the current Samsung Galaxy S20 range.
With more than 90-million customers in a country of about 60-million people, many South Africans already use more than one number. Typically, one will have a main SIM and a second network provider to take advantage of deals and special pricing on products such as mobile data, still seen as expensive in SA.
With e-SIMs now in smartwatches, tablets and smartphones, this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
In fact, Richard van Rensburg, chief technology and services officer at Pick n Pay, told Business Day recently the supermarket chain intended to play in the “secondary SIM space” as part of its strategy for PnP Mobile, the latest player to join the mobile industry as a virtual operator.