De Beers banks on deep pockets to ride out Covid crisis
Friday, August 14, 2020
With rising orders already noted ahead of the festive season and executives speaking of ‘pent up demand’ De Beers hopes to soon bounce back from a slump in revenue that saw its earnings for the first half of the year drop by 54% year-on-year to $1.2 billion (P13.2 billion).
De Beers, which is a 50/50 partner with government in Debswana, is amongst the principal anchors of government revenues through dividends, royalties and taxes. Government’s latest figures show that from expected mineral revenues of P20 billion in 2020/21, fiscal authorities now expect about P10.5 billion, due largely to the closure of borders and the slump in global demand as a result of COVID-19.
The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...