Financial Mail articles from February 2006, page 5

Financial Mail archives from February 2006

Sports sponsorship. NEVER MIND THE SCORE.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Sven Lunsche Sports sponsorship NEVER MIND THE SCORE Corporate spending on sports sponsorships rose above R4bn for the first time last year, exceeding the amount companies spent in 2004 by almost 20%....

Reserve Bank. TOO MUCH FAT ON REPO.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Claire Bisseker Reserve Bank TOO MUCH FAT ON REPO Mboweni eyes the banks' 3,5% margin 'convention' while getting his own house in order Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni is on the case of SA's...

Transnet strike. WHAT UNIONS WANT It's not about ideology, but about equal partner recognition, says labour Trade unions want more say in influencing the direction of state corporations and other companiesfirms a demand management is likely to.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Razona Munshi Transnet strike WHAT UNIONS WANT It's not about ideology, but about equal partner recognition, says labour Trade unions want more say in influencing the direction of state corporations and...

Standard Bank. PASSPORT IN HAND.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Heather Formby Standard Bank PASSPORT IN HAND The bank plans to use the experience it has acquired in SA to expand its markets overseas Without saying so too loudly, Standard Bank is looking to...

Spoornet. STILL NOT A SAFE SLEEPER.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: David Williams Spoornet STILL NOT A SAFE SLEEPER Two more accidents in 10 days on the Richards Bay coal line show how far Spoornet has to go in restoring its safety record. On Saturday January 21,...

Cricket. HIT FOR A SIX?
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: David Williams Cricket HIT FOR A SIX? The 20-over game may skittle 50-over version Though I have been unimpressed by the Pro20 slash-and-bash format (20 overs for each side and sixes galore), what hadn't...

Hedge funds GROWING UP FAST.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston Hedge funds GROWING UP FAST Institutional investors will ensure that hedge funds become less risky, if a little less exciting Hedge funds have evolved from being opaque and secretive...

Large Manager Watch. RESOURCES PROVE TO BE THE ASSET CLASS TO BACK.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stafford Thomas Large Manager Watch RESOURCES PROVE TO BE THE ASSET CLASS TO BACK Gold and platinum surge while banks and retailers underperform For two years a strategy of underweighting resources and...

FUND OF HEDGE FUNDS MANAGER WATCH SURVEY.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) FUND OF HEDGE FUNDS MANAGER WATCH SURVEY Objective: The portfolios in this survey show the performance of fund of hedge fund managers. FoHF managers select a number of underlying single hedge fund managers to...

Rael Gordon SETTING THE GLOBAL STANDARD.
February 10, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston Rael Gordon SETTING THE GLOBAL STANDARD talks to Alexander Forbes CEO Rael Gordon How do you define Alexander Forbes' (AF) core business? We have three core businesses: Risk & Insurance...

Diamond: Richemont. Dog: Unions.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jamie Carr Diamond Richemont The passing of one of the great SA businessmen of the 20th century allows for a moment in the rear-view mirror. Anton Rupert was a true entrepreneur, who built a business...

Cinema. KILLING TIME.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Peter Wilhelm Cinema KILLING TIME Munich directed by Steven Spielberg At the Munich Olympics of 1972, a Palestinian terror group called Black September abducted and murdered 11 Israeli participants. The...

BITING CULINARY CRIT LEAVES A BAD TASTE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jamie Carr BITING CULINARY CRIT LEAVES A BAD TASTE Ifirst felt the froth rising when I read Giles Coren's heartless trashing of SA food in The Times. Now that it has been reprinted in our dear Sunday...

Housing. EKURHULENI ON THE FAST TRACK.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Razina Munshi Housing EKURHULENI ON THE FAST TRACK South Africa's fastest-growing metro, Ekurhuleni municipality on Gauteng's East Rand, wants to upgrade its 104 informal settlements by 2014. ...

Land restitution. STALLED BY BUREAUCRACY AND MISUNDERSTANDING.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephan Hofstatter Land restitution STALLED BY BUREAUCRACY AND MISUNDERSTANDING Red tape and disputes over price are holding back reform Three years ago Andre and Monica Geringer moved from Johannesburg...

Cricket. NOT THE BEST TEST.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: David Williams Cricket NOT THE BEST TEST International tests Shorter matches expose short-term thinking Test cricket is much more interesting, if occasionally less exciting, than one-day internationals...

Pension funds adjudicator. HARDBALL TURNS GETS A LITTLE SOFTER.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston Pension funds adjudicator HARDBALL GETS A LITTLE SOFTER The life offices still have to give their formal approval to the agreement that their CEOs concluded with the national treasury...

FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE My colleague Stafford Thomas made a strong case for investing in Japan recently (Personal Wealth Weekly December 2). It looks as though some fund managers in...

Anglo American. WORTH ITS WAIT IN GOLD.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Mzwandile Jacks Anglo American WORTH ITS WAIT IN GOLD The spike in the gold price has made Anglo American's delay in disposing of its 51% stake in AngloGold a profitable one for the London-listed...

Township homes. A CROWD AT THE DOOR.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Xolile Bhengu Township homes A CROWD AT THE DOOR There is increased demand for both newly developed and old houses in the townships Astudy by First National Bank shows increased demand in the fourth...

Radio. FM LICENCE FOR 702?
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Themba Hlengani Radio FM LICENCE FOR 702? Listeners of medium-wave Talk Radio 702 could soon be listening to the tough-talking station on the much-friendlier FM frequency. A reliable source says the...

GOLD FIELDS. Mining: gold.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) GOLD FIELDS Mining: gold Looking up Ord price: 13650c Market cap R67,3bn Div yield: 0,6% 12-month high, 13650c PE ratio: 95. Low, 5751c Six Turn- Operating Pretax *Core Dividend months over profit profit...

Unit trusts. TWENTY-TEN VISION.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: David Williams Unit trusts TWENTY-TEN VISION New theme fund will capitalise on government spending, not all of it around the World Cup What do companies operating in construction, food retailing and...

ALPINA. Real estate: property loan stock.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Michael Coulson ALPINA Real estate: property loan stock Hope at last for a new era Price: 13c Market cap R1,2m 12-month high, 20c; low, 10c Sector PE: 26,6 Year Turn- Operating Pretax Headline NAV to...

Another week.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) AT HOME The safety & security ministry says current firearm licences will be valid until June 2009 but warns that all licences must be renewed by then. Ruth Ntshulana-Bhengu, who quit as an MP last year after...

THE UNIONS PLUCK AT THE RIGHT TO RULE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) THE UNIONS PLUCK AT THE RIGHT TO RULE The tripartite alliance the African National Congress, the Congress of SA Trade Unions, and the Communist Party is a political arrangement, a convenience born out of a common...

Editor's Note.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Barney Mthombothi President Thabo Mbeki addresses the country this Friday from the hallowed grounds of parliament after a tumultuous year that has seen his fortunes ebb and flow and his stature shrink a...

SA ON THE BACK FOOT IN SUDAN.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Kuseni Dlamini SA ON THE BACK FOOT IN SUDAN SA has a duty to stand up for certain norms and values wherever they are threatened, especially in Africa Kuseni Dlamini is executive chairman of Richards Bay...

CORONATION RESOURCES. Resources & basic industries.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston CORONATION RESOURCES Resources & basic industries Getting ready for a hangover Unit price: 4524c Total assets R68m Top ten holdings:* Sasol, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Mittal Steel,...

Aspen. THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Aspen THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME Just when investors thought generic drugs producer Aspen had signed all the deals it could, the company has announced another. It signed a deal with the Clinton Foundation...

Corporate debt. RECORDS UNDER THREAT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stafford Thomas Corporate debt RECORDS UNDER THREAT Abooming economy, and interest rates at their lowest levels in a quarter of a century, fired up SA's corporate debt market in 2005 as companies came to...

FINANCIAL DEMOCRACY AND THE LESSON OF NASPERS.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) FINANCIAL DEMOCRACY AND THE LESSON OF NASPERS It's ironic that the mechanism of N shares, most widely used (or abused) in the early days of black empowerment, but since discredited, should be used to entrench the...

Did you hear?
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Kareedouw farmers, it would seem, are growing impatient with trespassers: Not to let the facts get in the way of a good story. Hence these excerpts from two London newspaper obituaries of Anton Rupert: He helped to...

Did you hear? Prizewinners.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) The best reader's contribution each week to Did You Hear? wins a fashionable Candino watch, valued at R1695. Prizes will be delivered by Berco Express. Two more readers can each win a weekend's accommodation for two...

SARS' LOW FRUIT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Craig Field SARS' LOW FRUIT Your article, Taxing Times (Cover Story January 27), on Sars and commissioner Pravin Gordhan makes for interesting reading and as a tax consultant I can attest to the...

Naspers. VALUE IN BETTER PERSPECTIVE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Themba Hlengani Naspers VALUE IN BETTER PERSPECTIVE Jannie Mouton, head of PSG Group, says his bid for Naspers's A shares was partly an act of shareholder activism. We have stated from the beginning of...

SCARY THOUGHT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Corrie Kruger SCARY THOUGHT I totally agree with what you say in Aisle seat for Phumzile on the gravy express (Editorials January 20). I also noticed a small article somewhere else stating that Sweden (I...

STANLIB RESOURCES FUND. Resources & basic industries.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston STANLIB RESOURCES FUND Resources & basic industries Trying to forget a dismal 2005 Unit price: 1778c Total assets R582m Top ten holdings:* Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Implats, Kumba,...

Robotics. MARCH OF THE MACHINES.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Duncan McLeod Robotics MARCH OF THE MACHINES Robotics is set to change the way people work, live and play in the next few decades. Robots will make many middle management and clerical jobs redundant and...

Banking. HOME IS WHERE THE COMMISSIONS ARE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Heather Formby Banking HOME IS WHERE THE COMMISSIONS ARE Foreign competitors are forcing SA's banks to be more competitive in the home loan market and mortgage originators have muscled in, cutting banks'...

BAFANA REPUBLIC.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Justice Malala BAFANA REPUBLIC Each player got R50000 for turning up enough for a one-way ticket to Dubai with the deputy president ***Bellini's 18 Chaplin Road Illovo Tel: (011) 880-9168 *****We should...

A COUNCILLOR'S JOB.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Peter Horwitz A COUNCILLOR'S JOB I worked with Ketso Gordhan when I was a member of the executive of the Johannesburg City Council and have publicly listed him among a handful of the ablest South...

Investec Commodity. GOOD FOR THE LONG HAUL.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stafford Thomas Investec Commodity GOOD FOR THE LONG HAUL Last year, resource prices broke the shackles of a 25-year bear market and resource shares responded with a run that has driven the sector index...

Nitel. THIRD TIME LUCKY?
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Larry Claasen Nitel THIRD TIME LUCKY? Telkom, Orascom said to be excluded from new round of bidding for troubled Nigerian operator Nigeria has invited 18 companies, including Vodafone, BT Group and...

POST BOX BLUES.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jens Kerneck POST BOX BLUES When I went to renew the rental of my post box for 2006 I was informed that I now had to pay R225. Previously the rental was free because of the absence of street deliveries....

Hotel. HIDDINGH CHARMS.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Linda Stafford Hotel HIDDINGH CHARMS Hiddinghof, Gardens, Cape Town The game of filling niches in the hotel landscape is being played as intelligently in SA as it is anywhere else. And Cape Town has, for...

A MOVING EXPERIENCE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) A MOVING EXPERIENCE On the stress index, psychologists suggest, moving house ranks up there with losing a job, getting married and bringing a new baby into the world. So if you're going to advertise a furniture...

Saatchi & Saatchi. TOUGH LOVE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs Saatchi & Saatchi TOUGH LOVE Curtis sets out to break bad habits Visitors to Gail Curtis's office would be excused for thinking they had strayed into the domain of a 1960s Flower Child. The...

AdFocus. THEY'LL BE THE JUDGE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs AdFocus THEY'LL BE THE JUDGE Judges for this year's FM AdFocus competition for advertising agency of the year will focus on four main areas: business growth, creative success, empowerment...

MITTAL: ADDING SPICE TO STEEL.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Andrew McNulty MITTAL: ADDING SPICE TO STEEL Mittal has already done a great deal to reshape the world steel industry. With its audacious a18,6bn bid last week for the number two player, Europe's...

TACKLING SA'S WOES.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Donald Molema TACKLING SA'S WOES Carol Paton, in her review of the key challenges of the Mbeki administration, is right to point to the need for greater focus on economic reform (Current Affairs January...

REFUSING PUNISHMENT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Mutimba Mazwi REFUSING PUNISHMENT The message was very interesting. With 300000 people dead and over 2m displaced, Omar al-Bashir has got more to celebrate about. African leaders descended upon Khartoum,...

HUDACO. Industrial machinery.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stafford Thomas HUDACO Industrial machinery Buy Ord price: R44 Market cap R1,42bn Div yield: 3,3% 12-month high, R46; PE ratio: 10,6. Sector PE: 12,4 Low, R30 Year Turn- Operating Pretax Headline...

Opposition politics. WHY TONY CAN'T CRACK IT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Carol Paton Opposition politics WHY TONY CAN'T CRACK IT The DA's best hope is to focus on its traditional, minority support base The Democratic Alliance (DA) should be facing its easiest election yet:...

People. THE BEST BET.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Linda Stafford People THE BEST BET The FM Interview meets Sun International CEO-designate David Coutts-Trotter It will mark the end of an era when, in July, Sun International CEO Peter Bacon steps out...

Property development. LAND OF PROMISE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ian Fife Property development LAND OF PROMISE Sprawling new minicity signals development spurt and environmental concerns The biggest property development in SA history, an investment of at least R11bn,...

PARTY POOPERS.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs PARTY POOPERS In terms of taste, content and ideas, political advertising is generally considered one notch above classified advertising for escort services. This year, though, the porn...

SOFT TALKERS NEED BIG STICKS.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Peter Honey SOFT TALKERS NEED BIG STICKS So this is what happens when the dog catches the car, is what Hamas leaders must be thinking as they duck the hailstones of Western denunciation for impudently...

INVESTEC COMMODITY. Resources & basic industries.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stafford Thomas INVESTEC COMMODITY Resources & basic industries Backing precious metals Unit price: 800c Total assets R325m Top ten holdings:* Anglo, BHP Billiton, Sasol, Implats, Mittal Steel, Illovo,...

Private equity. PITY ABOUT THE LOST LISTING.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Mzwandile Jacks and Chris Gilmour Private equity PITY ABOUT THE LOST LISTING The global private equity industry is discovering SA. This month's R5,4bn buyout of building services group Waco by Hong...

Wine. A BUYER'S MARKET.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Neil Pendock Wine A BUYER'S MARKET Reds and whites to buy now Financial gravity continues to exert downward pressure on wine prices and distributors have kicked off the New Year with price specials...

Zimbabwe. A BARE ECONOMIC POLICY CUPBOARD.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Zimbabwe A BARE ECONOMIC POLICY CUPBOARD When it meets next month (March 8) to reconsider Zimbabwe's status, the IMF's executive board is unlikely to recommend expulsion. This is not because the fund believes the...

Financial sector. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs Financial sector WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? So it's not just a few of us who don't understand insurance small print. A new consumer survey among black urban professionals also known as buppies...

Rail safety. PENSIONERS' RETURN TRIP.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Shareen Singh Rail safety PENSIONERS' RETURN TRIP The number of train accidents in SA has risen sharply in recent years yet it has taken government until now to set up SA's first railway safety regulator...

GOLD.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) GOLD Gold remained on a firm footing last week and continued to trade around US$560/oz. Early in the week, it came within a dollar of recent 25-year highs as the US dollar fell to a four-month low against the euro...

Corporate academies. TAILOR-MADE TALENT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Thandeka Gqubule Corporate academies TAILOR-MADE TALENT Some companies are starting their own 'universities' to develop employees Standard Bank's recent move to establish a Johannesburg-based corporate...

NATIONAL SHAME.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Thabo Mbeki NATIONAL SHAME They did not try to ensure that our country becomes a winning nation. We cannot be a losing nation in a way that Bafana Bafana lost in Egypt. President

CPIX inflation rate.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Sven Lunsche Both consumer and producer price inflation picked up pace in December amid higher food and oil prices. The inflation rate excluding mortgage rates (CPIX inflation) rose from 3,7% to 4%,...

Private credut extension.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Sven Lunsche Growth in private-sector credit demand showed no signs of letting up in December, rising by 19,7% y/y compared with 18,8% in the previous month. Similarly the broad M3 money supply measure...

Economic focus.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Sven Lunsche Economic focus Over half a million hectares of land were under cultivation by genetically modified (GM) crops in SA last year, making the country the eighth-largest in the world for adoption...

BAD SERVICE FROM THE TAXMAN.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ron Warren It would seem that the top brass at Sars is incapable of running an organisation of proficient personnel to assist taxpayers BAD SERVICE FROM THE TAXMAN Your Cover Story, Taxing Times (January...

Life insurance. RICHES FROM THE POOR.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston Life insurance RICHES FROM THE POOR For most life offices, people in LSM brackets 1-5 (at present, that means those earning less than R3000/month) have been a no-go zone. It is a market...

Metro councils. MAINTENANCE OF NEGLECT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Carol Paton Metro councils MAINTENANCE OF NEGLECT South African cities are still not spending enough on maintenance, despite clear signals that critical infrastructure has been neglected for too long. A...

Mvelaphanda. MARRY IN HASTE, REPENT AT LEISURE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Sibonelo Radebe Mvelaphanda MARRY IN HASTE, REPENT AT LEISURE The empowerment credentials of a number of companies could be victims of the far-reaching rationalisation plan of Tokyo Sexwale's Mvelaphanda...

Gold mining quarterlies. GOLD FIELDS LEADS PACK.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Michael Coulson Gold mining quarterlies GOLD FIELDS LEADS PACK It's setting a demanding benchmark for the other groups to be judged against It may have taken longer than some of us expected, and full...

Rally To Read. NEVER-ENDING NEED TO HELP SA'S DESERVING CHILDREN.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Rally To Read NEVER-ENDING NEED TO HELP SA'S DESERVING CHILDREN What started as a one-off visit has become a national campaign Eight years ago, when a group of volunteers in 4x4s ventured into the mountainous...

Luxury cars. ROLLS-ROYCE COUNTRY.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Heather Formby Luxury cars ROLLS-ROYCE COUNTRY We've heard all about the consumer boom, the retail boom and the property boom. But have you heard about the Rolls-Royce boom? Last year the Rolls-Royce...

SABMiller. GET A BRAZILIAN ON THE TEAM.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Christ Gilmour SABMiller GET A BRAZILIAN ON THE TEAM The Brazilian beer market the fourth-largest in the world after China, the US and Germany is hotting up and may provide a battleground for the big...

Transnet. SURE OF A SHAPE SHIFT.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Shareen Singh and Sven Lunsche Transnet SURE OF A SHAPE SHIFT Despite union opposition, the group's restructuring plan is going ahead It should be in the job description of every Transnet CEO: when...

Editor's note.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Sasha Planting Government will host public workshops for the next two months to discuss its policy proposals on how to manage intellectual property (IP) arising from publicly financed research. The...

INNOVATION: POWERED BY PEOPLE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Graeme Addison INNOVATION: POWERED BY PEOPLE by The word innovation has become one of the most well used in our modern business vocabulary. Generally, it is thought to refer to new products and processes...

BANKING ON THE MOVE.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Paul Furber BANKING ON THE MOVE by Mobile banking is on the verge of an explosion across Africa triggered by pent-up demand among the unbanked for easy access to banking transaction services. Fundamo,...

Lessons in SA innovation.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Herman Singh Lessons in SA innovation by The Edge Series: Innovation Nation 1900-2004, by Graeme Addison (SAVI: The Engineering Association, R495 excluding Vat) The Hidden Edge: Quest for Progress,...

BUILDING UP ENERGY.
February 3, 2006... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Sasha Planting BUILDING UP ENERGY by Fresh off a billion-dollar engineering project in Russia, Brent Hegger is a happy man. He has returned to a country he loves with his SA wife, his small children and...