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Top reads on Fin24: Strong rand fuels petrol surprise and another blow for Steinhoff

Cape Town - ICYMI: A roundup of Thursday's must-read financial and economic news.

Strong rand fuels petrol price surprise for motorists

petrol

Fuel prices are set for a hefty drop after the rand's strong performance against the US dollar.

Commenting on unaudited month-end fuel data released by the Central Energy Fund, the Automobile Association said that despite higher international oil prices over December, all grades of fuel are set to fall at the next fuel price adjustment.

The AA expects the price of petrol to fall by up to 34 cents a litre, diesel by 26c and illuminating paraffin by 28c.

The expected relief will break five consecutive increases, which took the pump price of 95 octane petrol to R14.76 inland and R14.27 at the coast.

READ: Strong rand fuels petrol price surprise for motorists

Another blow for Steinhoff as Moody's again wields downgrade axe

Ratings agency Moody's has again downgraded embattled global furniture retailer Steinhoff.

Moody's downgraded Steinhoff International [JSE:SNH] and Steinhoff Investment Holdings.

The ratings agency has assigned a Caa1 Corporate Family Rating to the two companies, and a B3.za national scale Corporate Family Rating to Steinhoff Investment Holdings.

Caa1 is the seventh rung of non-investment grade, which indicates high credit risk.

Corporate family ratings, according to Moody's, are an "opinion of a corporate family's ability to honour all of its financial obligations and is assigned to a corporate family as if it had a single class of debt and a single consolidated legal entity structure".

Moody's said its assessment of Steinhoff's credit profile is made difficult by the group's complex corporate legal structure and financial reporting considerations, the result of the company's rapid expansion through acquisitions.

7 times business, politicians shocked us in 2017

Do you remember who said this? "Let the rand fall, we will pick it up."

As part of our year in review, Fin24 highlights seven times business people and politicians shocked us in 2017.

From Minister Nomvula Mokonyane to UK peer Lord Timothy Bell and SARS chief Tom Moyane, read about who said what when. 

2017 in review: Tears, tirades in Parliament during Eskom’s annus horribilis

Plunder, leadership crises, liquidity woes and Gupta-related scandals all plagued South Africa’s electricity provider in its most dismal year ever.

During the dark days of load shedding, no one suspected Eskom’s worst was yet to come. But the state utility became the master of its own destruction as it turned into the cash cow of a few connected individuals who made a pretty bundle out of its compromised leadership.

The year ended in tears and tirades in Parliament as Eskom executives laid bare the details of the company's innermost secrets. The Parliamentary inquiry exposed the state utility as a corruption-riddled entity, where bosses were up for sale and could be used to secure the best deal with the right connections.

Apple CEO Cook pockets $102m

Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Photo: Justin Sullivan, AFP)

Apple CEO Tim Cook received a 74% increase in his annual bonus for fiscal 2017 as the iPhone maker posted higher revenue and net income, after a rare decline a year earlier.

Cook’s incentive pay totalled $9.33m for the year ended September 30, the Cupertino, California-based company said on Wednesday in a regulatory filing. He also took home $3.06m in salary and a previously disclosed equity award of $89.2m, bringing his total pay out for the year to about $102m.

His top five lieutenants each got bonuses of $3.11m, bringing their total compensation to about $24.2m each, including salaries and stock awards.

The equity compensation is composed of shares that vest solely based on the executives’ continued employment and others tied to the performance of Apple’s stock compared with other S&P 500 companies.

Jeff Bezos ousts Bill Gates as world's rich gets $1trn richer

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose wealth is e

The richest people on earth became $1trn richer in 2017 - more than four times last year’s gain - as stock markets shrugged off economic, social and political divisions to reach record highs.

The 23% increase on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, compares with an almost 20% increase for both the MSCI World Index and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos added the most in 2017, a $34.2bn gain that knocked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates out of his spot as the world’s richest person in October.

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