Financial Mail articles from April 2002

Financial Mail archives from April 2002

LIBERTY GLOBAL FIFTH WAVE WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas RETAINING A CONSERVATIVE STANCE Unit price: 115c Total assets R91m Top ten holdings:* IBM, Pfizer, Siebel, Sky Broadcasting, Microsoft, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Vodafone, Veritas, Nokia, Comcast. Asset allocation:...

SHORT-TERM INSURANCE SAFETY SAVINGS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas Insurance experts reveal how you can save money It's time to take action to keep the lid on personal insurance premiums. Surprisingly, this call does not come from a consumer action group, but from short-term...

INTELLIGENCE AGENCY CURRENCY TRADES COME UNDER SURVEILLANCE.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Peter Honey The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) was ordered to investigate causes of the late-2001 crash of the rand days before advocate John Myburgh was commissioned to do the same thing, say sources close to the...

SAGE SCITECH FUND CHOPPING AND CHANGING.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Sharon Wood Volatile market conditions are likely to continue The technology sector has been, and still is, a risky place. The Sage Scitech Fund, managed by FT NIB fund manager Iain Anderson, may be top in its sector but it would...

RENTSURE LIFE ASSURANCE.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas SPECULATIVE ATTRACTION Ord price: 50c Market cap. R20m Div yield: - 12-month high, 200c; PE ratio: -2,0. Sector PE: 8,3 Low, 45c SixPremInvest AttribEarningsDividend monthsInc.Incomeprofitper shareper share to...

SAGE SCITECH FUND WORLDWIDE EQUITY TECHNOLOGY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Sharon Wood BIOTECHS DIFFERENTIATE EXPOSURE Unit price: 457c Total assets R90m Top ten holdings:* Raytheon, Amgen, IBM, Paychex Inc, Adobe, Viasat, Exult, Pfizer, United Tech, Johnson & Johnson. Asset allocation: Equities:...

STANDARD BANK GLOBAL TECH WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas BENEFITS OF TOP-CLASS MANAGEMENT Unit price: 86c Total assets R64m Top holdings:* Fidelity Technology Fund 78%, Standard Bank Science & Technology Fund 11%, Fidelity Telecoms Fund 4%, Fidelity Healthcare Fund 3%....

SUBMARINES EXPERTS MULL OVER THE VIRTUE OF UNDERWATER STEALTH.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Peter Honey Submarines play an important role in times of peace and war Why submarines? Corvettes, yes. We've heard ad nauseam that the Navy needs frigate-size ships to negotiate the rough waters off the Western Cape in...

Winners & losers.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Sasha Planting The survey also finds that: IBM is gaining share. Users agree with management that IBM can continue to win in an upturn and that there is a shift towards solutions. There is still nervousness about being locked...

TELKOM IPO A WHOLE LOT OF TALKING GOING ON.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Marina Bidoli Oh to have been a fly on the wall at the recent shareholder meeting between government and Telkom's foreign shareholders - SBC Communications and Telekom Malaysia - in New York. Government's statement that both...

The FM this week bids farewell to a distinguished colleague.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Caroline Southey n We doff our caps this week to investment writer Stafford Thomas who was named the overall winner in the Citadel Words on Money awards last week. Citadel CEO Rudi Stumpf said Thomas had received high overall...

RAND INQUIRY: NO TIME FOR WITCH-HUNTS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Caroline Southey The commission's terms of reference are to find out whether any transactions took place that "contributed or gave rise to" the rand's depreciation and whether these were "illegal" or "unethical, albeit legal". It...

GLODINA HOLDINGS CLOTHING & TEXTILES.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Libby Van Rensburg AVOID FOR NOW Ord price: 16c Market cap R5,1m Div yield: - 12-month high, 40c; PE ratio: -. Sector PE: 110,2 Low, 7c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend tooverprofitprofitEarningsper share Dec 31RmRmRmper...

Gimmicks galore.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Marina Bidoli Online publisher ZDnet says prototype gadgets on show included a cigar-shaped ChatPen from Sony Ericsson with built-in digital camera and radio transmitter that sends your handwritten notes to another cell phone, PC...

PEOPLE WHERE THERE'S SMOKE ...
April 5, 2002... Byline: William Gumede The FM Interview - William Mervin Gumede catches up with politician-turned-banker Mac Maharaj It's amusing to many that former Cabinet Minister Mac Maharaj (67) - who once jokingly called banks "capitalist...

SPICER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas PERHAPS IT'S WORTH 2c A SHARE Ord price: 1c Market cap R4m Div yield: - 12-month high, 10c; PE ratio: -0,8. Sector PE: 8,3 Low, 1c SixTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend monthsoverprofitprofitEarningsper share...

CORPORATE CRIME: THE LAW'S ARM GETS LONGER.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Caroline Southey The indications are that the causes of the company's failure went well beyond managerial incompetence or misjudgment. Though Mitchell and Gardener have yet to present their evidence to the commission, there have...

LOOKING FOR RATS IN THE PRICE-HIKE CUPBOARD.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Caroline Southey The issue is something of a political hot potato, and the Department of Trade & Industry has ordered the Competition Commission to investigate. President Thabo Mbeki, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Mboweni...

CONTROL INSTRUMENTS ELECTRONICS & ELECTRICAL.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas A SPECULATIVE BUY Ord price: 45c Market cap R40m Div yield: - 12-month high, 86c; PE ratio: -6,7. Sector PE: 8,9 Low, 40c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend tooverprofitprofitEarningsper share RmRmRmper...

NO PLACE TO BE COY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Butch Rice In the work I have been involved in internationally, I do not find the same coyness regarding race. Race and ethnic origin remain prime differentiators in the US market, as well as the Australian market, where I've...

COCKEYED COMMENTS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Bruce Mackenzie For Britain to defend the Falklands against a foreign invader is a different proposition from taking up arms against its own kith and kin. Even if its forces would have accepted such an order, which I have good...

E-BUSINESS SEARCH ENGINE FINDS NEW HOME.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Marina Bidoli There always was scepticism about whether the Johnnic Group could make money by using online subsidiary Johnnic eVentures (JeV) to exploit synergies across its telecoms, media and entertainment interests. Dire...

BARNARD JACOBS MELLET OFFER PRICE FALLS SHORT.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald Directors reject 50% premium Stockbroker Barnard Jacobs Mellet (BJM)'s rejection of a R460m offer for its whole business is either pure folly or a loud declaration of faith by the directors, who still own 53% of...

AIDS ERRORS COMPOUNDED.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Claire Bisseker Constitutional Court could cut through confusion Stung by the outcry last week over its ill-conceived stance on Aids, government has reacted defiantly, compounding its litany of errors and reinforcing the public...

KING 2 THE CARROT AND THE STICK.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald The King 2 report on corporate governance, released last week, should be on the desk of every company director in SA. But the document is not yet backed with any real powers of sanction. Instead, it will be...

FOREIGN SALES BUYING BINGE BREAKS R500m.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Ian Fife Estate agents were the top Cape tourist attraction this summer Foreign holiday-makers to the Western Cape are heading home to the northern spring as the owners of properties worth at least R500m. These range from R190000...

LOST IN THE ARENA OF PROCREATION.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Peter Wilhelm In his indefatigable quest for work that will restore his low self-esteem, my evil clone, Knuckles McDuck (not his real name), spotted an opening for a sperm-harvester in a nearby fertility clinic, the one that...

PRESSURE BUILDS AS THE CITY RUNS OUT OF ROOM.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Peter Wilhelm Too many people and too few jobs will test any party Evictions and other official actions against defaulting ratepayers in Cape Flats townships are being countered by the threat of land invasions. The overcrowded...

Online Responsiveness Index Who's winning on the Web? FUTURECOMPANY'S SECOND ONLINE RESPONSIVENESS survey separates the companies that have coherent and working e-mail and Web strategies from those that don't seem to have a clue Duncan McLeod This.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Duncan McLeod FUTURECOMPANY'S SECOND ONLINE RESPONSIVENESS survey separates the companies that have coherent and working e-mail and Web strategies from those that don't seem to have a clue This week FutureCompany announces the...

ECONOMIC PROSPECTS THE PRICE OF TOUGH TARGETS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: James Eedes As the Reserve Bank battles rising prices with interest rate hikes, economists plump for growth Yikes. Rampant producer inflation figures released last week were a chilling warning of strong price pressures in the SA...

Diamond: JP Morgan Dogs: Wankie.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Jamie Carr The time has come for some qualified hat-eating. Last year, I cheekily described the venerable bank as somewhat more canine than carboniferous after it produced a valuation for its client, Iscor, that struck me as...

Did You Hear?
April 5, 2002... Byline: David Furlonger Other published contributions win R150. To win a prize, readers must include their name, postal address and telephone number. Last week's final Pierre Cardin winner: Geoff Rubenstein, Johannesburg. Protea Hotel...

Did You Hear?
April 5, 2002... At last, the reason our President won't censure his crooked counterpart to the north: they're one and the same man. From the Daily News in Durban last week: "Despite President Robert Mbeki's continuing diplomacy to resolve the Zimbabwe...

DYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Jacqui Pile SUSPENDED Ord price: 10c Market cap. R4,7m Div yield: - 12-month high, 35c; PE ratio: 8,36. Sector PE: 18,8 Low, 10c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend to endoverprofitprofitEarningsper share DecRmRmRmper share...

ABACUS TECHNOLOGY MEDIA.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas MINORITIES SHOULD SPEAK OUT Ord price: 9c Market value R30m Div yield: - 12-month high, 10c; PE ratio: 2,0. Sector PE: -24 Low, 3c SixTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend monthsoverprofitprofitEarningsper share...

ABSA WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGY WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas SOLID PERFORMER DESPITE ITS SIZE Unit price: 69c Total assets R11m Top ten holdings:* Viacom, Comparex, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Tyco, Cisco, IBM, Schlumberger, Check Point Software. Asset allocation: Equities 90%;...

Too little, too late.
April 5, 2002... Old dogs, it seems, simply refuse to lie down and die. Brainware issued a cautionary recently, advising shareholders that management was considering "proposals regarding a possible acquisition of assets, which... if concluded... may have...

ADFOCUS HELLO, MY CHINA! LESSONS FOR SA.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman China is the world's biggest emerging market, and though it seems a far cry from SA, Patrick Pitcher sees a surprising similarity in the problems it faces, including cultural diversity. Pitcher, a South African...

Chill behind the services cheer.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Sasha Planting SA's IT sector is looking frail. Of the 41 companies listed, eight trade off a negative p:e ratio, six are suspended, four command share prices above R5 and more than half trade at below R1/share. IT...

LISTED EMPOWERMENT COMPANIES FINDING NEW DIRECTIONS AND NEW HURDLES.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty One of these, New Africa Capital, produced poor financial results for its year to December which confirmed the market's worst expectations. It has also been a period of languishing share prices. Another of these...

CHESTER RETAIL.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas A SOLID BUY ON NAV CONSIDERATIONS Ord price: 55c Market cap R81m Div yield: 3,6% 12-month high, 60c; PE ratio: 4,4. Sector PE: 10,2 Low, 35c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend tooverprofitprofitEarningsper...

INVESTEC UNCERTAINTY ERODING THE PRICE.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty Just days after a consortium of Investec directors and managers used warrants to acquire a hefty exposure to an increase in the share price, the stock was again trading at new lows, at around R127. That is...

GROWTH SUMMIT BUSINESS AND LABOUR CONCERNED AT DELAY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: William Gumede Apparent lack of preparation by government Participants in the upcoming Growth & Development Summit are growing increasingly concerned at government's apparent slackness in its preparations to host the event. ...

In Brief - Advertising & Marketing.
April 5, 2002... The agency has also appointed from within its ranks a new Cape Town MD, Greg Tebbutt. Former MD Ian Calvert becomes group business development manager. An eight-page magazine spread shows a series of elegantly coiffed people. But the...

GLOBAL PLAYERS ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE FOR HOMEBOYS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Ferial Haffajee Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has consolidated his international standing through a high-profile role as one of the stewards of the UN Financing for Development conference in Monterrey, Mexico, last month. ...

SABC CHOOSES TOP CREATIVE AGENCIES.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman The most hotly contested pitch of the year came to a climax last week when the SABC announced the appointment of two of the country's most creative agencies, TBWA Hunt Lascaris and Net#work BBDO, to handle its...

LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL THE TORTOISE OVERTAKES THE GROWTH STOCKS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty Not for the first time, Liberty International is trading on an earnings multiple far greater than the average for the local equity market. On 12-month historical earnings, its p:e is now 34, more than double the...

HOWDEN AFRICA BUILD, CONSTRUCTION, ENGINEERING.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas AVOID Ord price: 60c Market cap R39m Div yield: - 12-month high, 110c; PE ratio: -28. Sector PE: 7,2 Low, 50c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend tooverprofitprofitEarningsper share DecRmRmRmper share (c)(c)...

The last word...
April 5, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman There's a growing gap between big and small. While the threshold for inclusion at the bottom of the table has hardly risen (the income of our 30th ranked agency went from R4,1m in 1995 to R4,9m last year), that of...

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS & TRANSACTIONS BILL NEW RULES FOR NAVIGATING CYBERSPACE.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Marina Bidoli A good start, but Big Brother proposals cause concern The Electronic Communications & Transactions Bill - which will recognise digital signatures and electronic agreements, make electronic evidence admissible in...

MARLIN CORP TOMBSTONE PRICE IS ODD.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Andre Naude Latest results emphasise the rip-off nature of the takeout offer Even an Enron director would blush at the events over at granite miner Marlin Corp, which is nearing the end of its days on the JSE Securities Exchange....

NEW AFRICA CAPITAL LAPSES DEVASTATE LIFE PROFITS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston But the old Metropolitan remains financially sound NAC management has quite rightly been criticised by analysts for delaying its profit warning until two weeks before the year-end. The timing was particularly...

NEW AFRICA CAPITAL LIFE ASSURANCE.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston TOO CHEAP TO IGNORE Ord price: 570c Market cap. R3,96bn Div yield: 6,1% 12-month high, 1060c; PE ratio: 10,8. Sector PE: 8,3 Low, 540c YearEmbedNew busOprtngHeadlineDividend toval*val**profiteariningsper share...

GOLD MINING NEW LIFE IN OLD SEAMS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Brendan Ryan Mothballed mining projects looking more feasible Development of a new gold mine employing up to 1500 workers is being considered for the Balfour area, about 80km southeast of Johannesburg, through the re-evaluation...

GUBB & INGGS CLOTHING & TEXTILES.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Libby Van Rensburg NOT SO POSITIVE ANYMORE Ord price: 1960c Market cap R39,8m Div yield: 1,8% 12-month high, R20; PE ratio: 3,9. Sector PE: 108,0 Low, R14 SixTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend...

OFFICE RENTS SA OFFERS BACK-OFFICE BARGAINS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Ian Fife Office rents may be down worldwide, but SA rents have plunged to bargain-basement levels with the rand. Prime corporate headquarters in SA, at R76/m'/month (US$7/ft'/year), are now renting at less than 5% of the same...

EXCHANGE CONTROLS COMBATANTS TAKE AIM.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald A week of high drama is in store By the end of this week, commissioner John Myburgh will have heard evidence from all the parties fingered by SA Chamber of Business CEO Kevin Wakeford. Sasol, Nampak and M-Cell...

Talking points.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Sasha Planting Long promised as the way to control PCs, speech recognition - the ability of a machine or program to recognise and carry out voice commands or take dictation - remains on the technical periphery. It is used in...

TOP COMPANIES THE FM WE ASSESSES SA'S BEST.
April 5, 2002... Byline: David Furlonger Which is SA's Top Company? Last year's winner was Comparex. This year? Wait and see. All will be revealed on June 28, when the FM publishes its annual SA investment guide, Top Companies. Last year, for the...

REAL AFRICA TOO MUCH WHITE IN THE SHAREHOLDER MAKE-UP.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Duma Gqubule Current shareholder structure inhibits black-empowerment deals It's the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one, for Don Ncube, executive chairman of Real Africa Group, as he prepares to dismantle the...

RAND INQUIRY AND OUT OF THE HAT COMES A MELTING EASTER BUNNY.
April 5, 2002... Byline: James Eedes Could commission have been called on such a flimsy basis? The Myburgh Commission of Inquiry into the rapid fall of the rand last year expected dramatic revelations this week when SA Chamber of Business CEO Kevin...

TRAVEL CLIMBING AND CRASHING.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald An Inca-redible dash through Peru Sunrise is the "best time to feel the real energy of Machu Picchu", I'm told by our guide taking us through the ancient Incan sites in the Peruvian highlands. But I decline the...

BOOKS TELLING IT AS IT WAS.
April 5, 2002... TELLING IT AS IT WAS Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller (Picador, March 2002, R137, 310pp) At last, out of Africa, the kind of book one's been longing for but has been a long time coming - a story of troubled times told...

ACTIVE BETS IN WAYNE'S WORLD.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston ACTIVE BETS IN WAYNE'S WORLD It is refreshing to see a multimanager that is prepared to take active investment risks, instead of hiding behind the stock excuse that "you can't time the market". Sage has...

JUST A WEALTH TAX.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Robin Bosomworth Ratepayers cannot accept a "wealth tax by stealth" approach to property tax reform. Our efforts to have "change" addressed openly, honestly and objectively have been spurned. The city is pre-empting national...

DEDICATED DEALERS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Christoph Kopke I refer to the letter "Trust the Chairman" by Arno Botha (Letters March 15). While I respect his opinion, I must point out a few facts that may not have been clear from the FM article on our new dealer network...

JAMES CROSS CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Ethel Hazelhurst A twist in the tale This week, for the second time in the past few months, former Reserve Bank deputy governor James Cross was taken by complete surprise. The first occasion was in December, when Cross learnt...

CITY OF GOLD RED TAPE TIES UP GREENING PLAN.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Jacqui Pile Johannesburg's mine dumps are probably the city's most notorious landmarks. Now an environmental company has come up with a novel approach to getting rid of them. But government needs convincing. In an initiative...

LEISURENET GARDENER'S R30M PROPERTY SECRET.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Ian Fife When Peter Gardener, co-founder of bankrupt LeisureNet,q was arrested on Easter Saturday on charges of tax fraud and unlawful enrichment, he had a R30m secret. That is how much a German buyer agreed to pay for his...

PRIMEDIA APPOINTMENT PAYS OFF.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Itumeleng Mahabane SA business turns around Primedia CEO William Kirsh's decision to bring on board Ferdi Gazendam as a joint chief operating officer last year has paid off handsomely, as the interim results for the six months to...

AFRICAN CONFLICT RESOLUTION.PRESIDENTIAL SUPPORT UNIT EXPLOITS CHANCES FOR PEACE.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Patrick Laurence Integral part of making a success of Nepad President Thabo Mbeki and his lieutenants - particularly those at Foreign Affairs, Defence and Intelligence - are involved in a regional peace initiative stretching...

RALLY TO READ BIG GUNS JOIN THE FIGHT TO SUPPORT RURAL EDUCATION.
April 5, 2002... Byline: David Furlonger New sponsors bring us closer to our R2m target If Rally To Read didn't have the official seal of approval before, it does now. National Education Minister Kader Asmal has agreed to join us on a rally next month,...

AIRLINES NEW(ISH)-LOOK SWISS SEEKS NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH SAA.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Shareen Singh Local carrier in strong negotiating position Switzerland's new flagship carrier, Swiss, is negotiating with SA Airways for a commercial agreement that may involve code sharing and connecting their frequent-flyer...

MATTER OF TRUST.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Ian Haigh What are trustees of beneficiary trusts and testamentary trusts doing to ensure good performance? Would the disciplines that apply to pension fund trustees not also apply to trustees of testamentary trusts and...

VITAL QUALIFICATIONS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Marietjie Vercueil Associate general accountant (AGA SA) and associate accountant technician (AAT SA) are the qualifications that are unknown out there. The AGAs and AATs are the backbone of the chartered accountant's work. They...

AD AGENCIES ONLY THE RICH GET RICHER.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman Changes in SA's top agency table reflect trying conditions in the marketplace FCB has held on to top spot in the ranking of SA's top agencies, based on fee and commission income earned last year, but TBWA SA...

ART DECEPTIVE SURFACES.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Michael Coulson Erika Hibbert (art on paper); Robert Hodgins (Gertrude Posel, Wits); Meneghelli Collection (Standard Bank); every child is my child (MuseuMAfrika) Both this week's solo shows are by artists I often express...

THE PRESIDENCY BUSINESS TO BUFF UP SA'S IMAGE.
April 5, 2002... Byline: William Gumede Senior business leaders have agreed to help President Thabo Mbeki and government devise a new communication strategy to help improve the image of the government and SA at home and abroad. Among the businessmen...

LET'S HAVE MORE JAZZ.
April 5, 2002... Byline: Lionel Astill They know what they "dig" but they don't have the time for any "archaeology". Like me, they read Don Albert's FM articles and send their secretaries out to the CD store with a "buy me this" note. Albert doesn't...

Bites.
April 5, 2002... But with 41 single malts available, together with blends, bourbons and Irish tipples, there's more than enough material for a convivial club. Membership costs R150/person and details about tastings, trips to Scotland and promotions are...

CRICKET CHALLENGING PRECEDENTS.
April 5, 2002... Byline: David Williams Should a specialist fast bowler be captain? The cricket has been marginally less depressing than the rugby (we can't win the Super 12, but we might just tie the one-day series against Australia), so let's talk...