Cape delays payment

Citing a major financial restructuring exercise, UK-based Cape plc has delayed payment of the first £11mn of a £21mn settlement with 7,500 South African workers suffering asbestos-related diseases. The claimants worked for Cape before 1979, and the settlement was agreed last year, after long fight, on the basis that the South African government waived its right to sue for the cost of rehabilitating the environment.