Discovery eyes UK's insurance markets – Business Day
The UK health and life insurance markets are perfect targets for Discovery’s “disruptive” approach based on behavioural economics, CEO Adrian Gore said yesterday. Discovery has bought the remaining 25% of its British business for R2.8bn to take full ownership of PruHealth and PruProtect, paving the way to entrench the Vitality brand in the northern hemisphere […]
Tongaat Hulett 'able to grow sugar output' – Business Day
Tongaat Hulett can grow its annual sugar production by 400 000 tonnes over the next four years without having to invest in new mills, largely on expected improvements in yields and extraction rates, CEO Peter Staude said yesterday. This would reduce unit cost production, given that most of the cost base was fixed, he said […]
Sappi expects rebound in price of lucrative wood pulp – Business Day
Sappi expects prices of dissolving wood pulp to remain depressed for about 18 months, as excess supply and low cotton prices put pressure on the price of the cotton substitute. Sappi has about a 20% share of the world market for dissolving wood pulp, which it ships mainly to clothing and textiles makers in the […]
Massmart faces mall food fight – Business Report
Massmart was feeling the pressure from constant litigation from its competitors which are seeking to block the company’s move in growing its retail food business. In the latest case in the Durban High Court, Judge Peter Olsen granted an interim interdict to prevent Massmart from converting its Game store into their food retailer Cambridge at […]
Tumbling gold leads rout of commodities – Business Report
Gold led the rout of commodities as investors unwound their positions, accumulated before the US Federal Reserve announcement to end quantitative easing. Gold, silver and platinum tumbled as the dollar’s rise to a five-year high cut demand, wiping almost $2 billion (1122.1bn) from the value of precious metals-backed funds. The commodity prices declined as the […]
Support for austerity is vital, says Lamberti – Business Day
A possible sovereign ratings downgrade could have “severe consequences” for SA, though this has been mitigated by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s “excellent” first medium-term budget, Imperial Holdings CEO Mark Lamberti says. SA is the source of 66% of Imperial’s revenue. But Mr Lamberti told the diversified logistics and industrial services company’s annual general meeting (AGM) […]
Kagiso PMI rises for third consecutive month in October – Business Day
Recovery in the manufacturing sector is proving more robust than expected with the key leading indicator of manufacturing conditions breaking decisively through the neutral 50-point barrier last month and hitting its best level in a year. The Kagiso purchasing managers index (PMI) rose for a third consecutive month to 51.8 in October from 50.8 in […]
Strategy pays off for Famous Brands – Business Report
The efficiencies of Famous Brands’ integrated supply chain strategy had helped it to remain resilient during the adverse trading conditions of the past six months. According to Dirk van Vlaanderen, the company reported a solid set of interim results, with a strong performance from the supply chain business offsetting more subdued trading conditions in the franchising division. view […]
MTN banks on mobile money – Business Day
MTN’s mobile money service has the potential to contribute 15% of MTN SA’s total revenues in the long term, the company said last week. In June MTN partnered with Pick n Pay, Boxer stores and Visa to re-launch mobile money service that will enable customers to transfer and receive money, and also pay bills. Mobile […]
MTN drops on Nigeria worries – Business Day
Shares in MTN Group fell 3.79% to close at R235.03 on concerns about regulatory pressure in the mobile operator’s largest market, Nigeria, which dragged down its subscriber growth there for the three months to September. However, MTN expects an improved performance during the remaining quarter of the year, after it resolved a number of matters with the […]