Business briefs

| Friday May 16, 2014 16:07

 

Bank deposits decrease

Total Deposits held by commercial banks decreased by P416 million in February from P49.48 billion in January to P49.06 billion. By holder, deposits for residents businesses and central government increased by P2 billion and P25 million respectively. In contrast, deposits by non-resident businesses, households and local government fell by P92 million, P2.17 billion and P178 million respectively. In the period businesses accounted for 75 percent of total deposits compared to 20.4 percent for households. This is in direct contrast to the trends in the amount of credit forwarded by commercial banks, which is dominated by households. According to statistics from the Bank of Botswana, the share of credit to the household sector in total credit stands at 57.8 percent. 

 

BIHL sells book to BIC

BIHL plans to sell a portion of its short term insurance business to Botswana Insurance Company (BIC) for a figure of about P640,000. In a statement to the BSE, BIHL said the deal has a value of 0,02 percent of its current market capitalisation, which stood at P3.2 billion at the close of trading on Wednesday. BIHL Group has operations in Life Insurance, Asset Management and General Insurance Industries. It also has associate holdings in consumer lending and funeral services companies.  BIHL informed shareholders that the company has entered into negotiations with BIC, which, if successfully concluded, and subject to all regulatory approvals, could result in the conclusion of the transaction. BIC announced last week that its managing director Dziki Nganunu intends stepping down at the end of September.  Nganunu has been with the company for over nine years having joined BIC in March 2005.

 

Boost for Sese coal project

Coal hopeful, African Energy has declared an initial inferred coal resource of 2.5-billion tonnes at its Sese West project, in Botswana. The inferred resource occurs about two kilometres to the south of the company’s Sese coal deposit, which also has a 2.5-billion inferred resource, and is considered to represent the down-dip extension of the Sese project. The addition of the Sese West inferred resource took African Energy’s total inventory to some 8.7-billion tonnes. The miner told shareholders this week that a scoping study would be launched in June, to determine the development options at Sese West. The ASX-listed company recently completed a prefeasibility study at its Mmamabula West coal project, also in the central district, where it was found that the project could support a three-million-tonne-a-year operation, with a mine life of 20 years.

 

Magnum to list on BSE

Australian energy development company, Magnum Gas and Power plans to list on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) by way of introduction. In a statement released this week, Magnum, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, said that the Company is also looking to list in Gaborone and has made an application for the secondary listing. The company has also launched a one for six non-renounceable entitlement issue at $0.01, which will raise up to $1.34 million (P12 million). 

Magnum will allocate the funds to its CBM Projects in Botswana, with its portfolio consisting of multiple Coal Bed Methane (CBM) prospecting licences focused on two separate project areas, Central and Northern CBM project areas. 

These are located within the overall central Kalahari Karoo basin. 
Most recently Magnum has been reviewing the integration of data from its exploration programme on the central CBM project area.