Pressure on all sides – Financial Mail
A handful of stout-hearted mining executives bought their companies’ shares when last week’s gold rout knocked gold and platinum share prices down to bargain levels. view article
Insurers lured by Africa's growth potential – Business Day
Old Mutual is already a market leader in some African countries, but it plans to grow the 1.3 million customers it already has outside SA on the rest of the continent significantly. view article
Some sanity at last on the rand – Business Day Investors Monthly
After their incessant bleating about how all they need to be world-class competitors is a slightly weaker rand, manufacturers are at last facing reality. Releasing its latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI), Kagiso Asset Management head of research Abdul Davids said the sustained weakness of the rand in February put significant upward pressure on predominantly dollar-based […]
End of chapter for Exclusives – Mail and Guardian
Times Media Group’s recent announcement that it plans to dispose of Exclusive Books and its academic book chain, Van Schaik, because they are “non-core” assets is a thinly veiled attempt to attract buyers for its retail books assets as the industry battles a decline. view article
TMG to take full control of BDFM – Business Report
Pearson, the largest publishing firm, has decided to get rid of its 50 percent stake in the BDFM joint venture, which publishes daily South African financial newspaper Business Day. view article
Hopes rest on weak rand – Financial Mail
With output volume hovering 10% below 2008’s peak, SA’s faltering manufacturing sector is sorely in need of a boost. A weaker rand may provide it. view article
Weak rand hurts Adcock defence plan – Business Report
The recent weakness in the rand is expected to prevent Adcock Ingram from reaching an informal R2 a share target for interim earnings, which could see shareholders side with Bidvest in its battle for control of the pharmaceutical firm. view article
Activist queries TMG incentive scheme – Business Report
Shareholders of Times Media Group (TMG) gave the necessary approval for implementation of the management incentive scheme at the company’s recent meeting. view article
Rand puts squeeze on Cipla Medpro – Financial Mail
State tenders are becoming a major source of revenue for local drugs firm Cipla Medpro. The group almost doubled its state business from R372m to R693m in the year to December and it expects this to rise to 111bn in the current financial year. http://www.justinbua.com/personal-loan-applications-online view article
PMI contracts as demand and production decline – Smart Procurement
After moving above the key 50-point mark in February, the seasonally adjusted Kagiso Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) lost 4.3 points in March to 49.3. This pullback was largely driven by significant declines in the new sales orders (-8.2 points) and business activity indices (4.5 points), says Abdul Davids, Head of Research at Kagiso Asset Management. […]