Tongaat Hulett’s shares fell as much as 27% on Thursday, 29 April, after it said it was negotiating another reprieve on its debt repayment targets and warned of production losses at its SA sugar operations.
Under Hudson, Tongaat has been disposing of non-core assets to help it pay down debt as part of a financing arrangement agreed with funders in December 2019. Late last year it sold its starch business to a subsidiary of Barloworld, using the R4.54-billion it received to reduce its gearing. Meanwhile, the company said a large sugar production loss would have a material, but not as yet fully quantified impact on the full-year financial performance of its SA sugar operations.