Tiso Blackstar is poised for acquisitions as money from the sale of its stake in Kagiso Tiso starts rolling in. Once it gets funding agreements and approval from the competition authorities, the R1.5bn in proceeds will "almost entirely" cut debt at the media company, according to CEO Andrew Bonamour, speaking after the release of full-year numbers on Wednesday. Net debt for the period under review was steady at R1.38bn. Bonamour said the first year’s results as an operating company "look a bit messy" but when the company finally sold its embattled steel divisions — Robor and Consolidated Steel Industries (CSI) — "the last remnants of our private equity past" will be out of the numbers. On a consolidated basis, turnover grew to R9.1bn from R8.1bn previously. The media division — which owns Business Day, Sowetan and Sunday Times, among other titles — grew earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) by 25.8% to R131.2m, on revenue of R2bn. Overall, consolidate...
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