Financial Mail articles from March 2002

Financial Mail archives from March 2002

Did you Hear?
March 29, 2002... It can be applied to any story, and only requires the use of two computer keys, conveniently placed next to each other. It graced the issue of Wednesday last week above a story on motorsport news. An attempt at onomatopoeia, perhaps? On...

THE CASE STILL HOLDS WEALTH.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald Even after the tax man has lifted the lid Trusts are still an important component of wealth planning, though recent press has given them a bad rap. Despite changes in tax rates, trusts can be a good mechanism to...

ANOTHER WEEK.
March 29, 2002... Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang considers withdrawing the licence of the Aids drug nevirapine after reports that the US Food & Drug Administration is investigating clinical irregularities during the human trials of the drug in...

THE INCREDIBLE LIGHTNESS OF KEVIN WAKEFORD'S LETTER.
March 29, 2002... In January, when President Thabo Mbeki was prompted to launch a commission of inquiry into the dramatic depreciation of the rand late last year, he did so primarily on the basis of a letter from Kevin Wakeford, CEO of the SA Chamber of...

Editor's Note.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Caroline Southey An air of hubris has once again entered into relations between the ANC government and the press. The tension has been fuelled by developments around two issues - the Zimbabwe elections and the debate on HIV/Aids....

CONFORM AS YOU PERFORM.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Mervyn King CONFORM AS YOU PERFORM & 145;& 145;Nonfinancial aspects of governance can no longer be regarded as secondary to more conventional business imperatives& 146;& 146; Mervyn King is chairman of the King Committee on...

INVESTEC FLEXIBLE FOF.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Sharon Wood GEARED FOR LOCAL EQUITY MARKET UPSIDE Unit price: 175c Total assets R432m Top holdings:* Investec Managed Equity Fund 75%, USD cash 25% Asset allocation: Equities 75%, Cash: US Dollar 25%. ...

SASOL. MORE SYNFUELS ON THE CARDS.
March 29, 2002... MORE SYNFUELS ON THE CARDS Good news for shareholders Sasol, the fuel and petrochemical company that delivered outstanding interim results last week, could possibly be taking advantage of the depreciating rand to reverse its long-standing...

AFROX. FOOT FIRM ON THE GAS PEDAL.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas Old-fashioned strength Few companies can boast a 75-year track record. Gas and health care group Afrox can, plus an average earnings growth rate of 14%/year during those 75 years, which have included the Great...

SPOTLIGHT ON AD RACISM.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman (FMGN3CopyDesk) Why does Nat Kekana think SA advertising is racist? The MP and head of the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications will be explaining his views at the AdFocus conference, to be held on...

In Brief - Advertising & Marketing.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman A supermarket trolley dash in a small town is won by the housewife who selected one box of Centrum, a vitamin supplement, while her rival fills her trolley to the brim with groceries. The TV commercial for Centrum...

The Last Word...
March 29, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman One forgets that packaging is the basis of all branding. It was when shopkeepers stopped doling out beans and flour from large sacks into customers' containers, and began selling prepared packs with a supplier's...

RESCUE DEAL FOR ACUITY, SBBW.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman (FMGN3CopyDesk) A bitter lesson for the last of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange's listed marketing services groups Gandalf Trust, a corporate rescue specialist, has stepped in with a plan to save Acuity Group, a...

SASOL SEEKS AGENCY FOR NEW GLOBAL ROLE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Tony Koenderman Petrochemical and synthetic fuel manufacturer Sasol is looking for an ad agency to handle its new positioning as a global player. Seven agencies are presenting credentials for a piece of business that seems likely...

ANGLO AMERICAN. WILL COMPETITION GURU TURN POACHER?
March 29, 2002... Byline: Brendan Ryan The latest appointment to the board of Anglo American Plc, in the form of Prof Karel van Miert, has attracted little comment but is potentially more intriguing than the decision by chairman-elect Goran Lindahl to...

APS. DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas EXPENSIVE EVEN AT ONE CENT Ord price: 1c Market cap R1,3m Div yield: - 12-month high, 8c; PE ratio: -0,2 Sector PE: -241 Low, 1c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend tooverprofitprofitEarningsper share...

FROM BARD AND BIBLE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Michael Coulson Tracey Rose (Goodman); group shows (Little Louvre, Norscot Manor, The Art Place) Rose's Ciao Bella is a triple screen DVD projection - which goes a step further than video art - first presented at last year's...

BELL EQUIPMENT. TRANSPORT.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Michael Coulson ANOTHER BENEFICIARY OF WEAK RAND Ord price: 945c Market cap R887m Div yield: 1,1% 12-month high, 960c; PE ratio: 10,1. Sector PE: 6,8 Low, 630c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend...

HIGH YIELD, NEGLIGIBLE RISK.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas Harvesting tax-free dividends Ingenious thinking has gone into stockbrokers Barnard Jacobs Mellet (BJM)'s Secure Yield Plan to combine the capital security of preference shares and the tax-free income benefits of...

May as well leave the door open.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Lance Harris This is supposed to be a time of deep paranoia in IT departments, a fear fuelled by the security issues highlighted by September 11 and a raft of recent high-profile hacking incidents, worms, viruses and...

Eating up the competition.
March 29, 2002... Eating up the competition The information security market is at last showing signs of maturity. A handful of companies, among them RSA Security, Symantec and Verisign, have begun to dominate the field. The company that has arguably done the...

It's too complicated: hand it over.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Lance Harris South African companies are expected to turn to managed security services providers (MSSPs) for cost-effective ways of coping with the growing complexity of information security and the acute shortage of specialist...

AIDS. NO LONGER BUSINESS AS USUAL.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Jacqui Pile Fears about the effect of Y2K on businesses spurred the JSE Securities Exchange into requiring listed companies to disclose their plans to deal with the potential crisis. A few years later, SA business faces an even...

CORONATION OPTIMUM GROWTH.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas OPTIMISING ITS FLEXIBLE MANDATE Unit price: 1819c Total assets R546m Top ten holdings:* Bidvest, CIH Global Equity Fund, City Lodge, Commerz Bank, Coronation Financial Fund, Delta Electrical, Gencor, Ozz, Remgro,...

CORPORATE ASSET SWAPS. A DIP INTO MURKY DIFFICULT AND MURKY FINANCIAL WATERS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Sharon Wood The rules are sketchy and structures hard to monitor Rand inquiry commissioners must soon get their heads around corporate asset swaps - an investment structure introduced in 1999 to ease exchange controls on...

CORRECTIONS. THE WRONG MAN.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Michelle Joubert In last week's FM, in an article titled "Railway rejuvenation", we mistakenly ran a photograph of the wrong man. Instead of a photograph of Zandile Jakavula, Spoornet CEO, we featured Musa Zondi, IFP national...

TELECOMS IN MALAYSIA.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Marina Bidoli Malaysia has been much bolder than SA in liberalising its telecommunications sector. But not everything has turned out as planned. Despite throwing the sector open to competition in the early Nineties, incumbent...

Follow the leader.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Marina Bidoli SA CAN LEARN FROM MALAYSIA'S experience in opening up its telecommunications sector and implementing policies that will help it become a developed nation There are many similarities between SA and Malaysia. Both are...

CRUX TECHNOLOGIES. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas LEAVE WELL ALONE Ord price: 4c Market cap R8m Div yield: - 12-month high, 23c; PE ratio: -0,4. Sector PE: 8,3 Low, 4c SixTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend monthoverprofitprofit*Earningsper share toRmRmRmper...

Diamonds & Dogs.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Jamie Carr Record results at the interim stage for this supplier of full-sized versions of every young lad's dream toy selection have been overshadowed by debate over the company's novel recruitment policy. It is surely...

DISCOVERY HEALTH. FINAL VIEW THIS WEEK.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Claire Bisseker Registrar hasn't slammed plan The damaging two-year row between Discovery Health and the Council for Medical Schemes looks set to end this week, with the Registrar undertaking to make a final decision on Discovery...

INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY RATES %.
March 29, 2002... Mar 26Mar 22 20012002 Euro: three-months4,553,43 six-months4,423,60 Sterling: three-months5,414,16 six-months5,224,39 US dollar: three-months4,822,00 six-months4,642,27 Swiss franc: three-months3,301,56 six-months3,151,86 Danish Krone:...

DIRECTORS' SHAREHOLDINGS. NEW ENTRIES THROUGH WARRANTS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty The recent practice of directors or managers of local companies making investments in their stocks through derivatives represents an interesting new twist on these deals. It happened on a large scale last week,...

PROFURN. ANOTHER RESTATEMENT.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty Financial accounts, particularly the earnings figures, published by many companies on the JSE often seem to be rather like some people's principles. There is a hidden subtext to the effect of, "If you don't like...

PPC. RETREATING FROM JOINT VENTURES.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty In principle, there is no surprise in the PPC's plan to sell its 32,79% stake in the KwaZulu-Natal cement producer, NPC. It said at the recent AGM that it was considering offers. Based on the pro forma figures,...

CONFIDENCE IN ECONOMIC RECOVERY RISING DESPITE WAR AND THE ENRON SHOCK.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty Just a few months ago, much of the emphasis in the analysis by international commentators was on risk and uncertainty. Late last year, the sentiment in financial markets was dark with the jitters surrounding...

HANGING ON TO THEIR SHIRTS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Ian Fife Investment experts were wrong Estate agent Andrew Golding, head of Pam Golding Properties, has managed to prove UK developers and economists wrong - spectacularly so. He has produced 290% profits in 18 months for SA...

HANDLE WITH CARE.
March 29, 2002... HANDLE WITH CARE The golf estate boom Golf estates are springing up all over SA like mushrooms after rain. Recent years have seen places like Leopard Creek, Sparrebosch, Arabella and Pecanwood offer a variety of options to suit those who...

GOLD. HOLDING HARD CURRENCY.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Brendan Ryan Canadian producers opt to hold gold on their balance sheets As gold's prospects continue to improve, two Canadian producers are putting their money where their mouths are: holding gold reserves and giving their...

ILIAD. RETAIL.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Michael Coulson UNFASHIONABLE, BUT YIELD IS ATTRACTIVE Ord price: 115c Market value R86m Div yield: 7,8% 12-month high, 125c; PE ratio: 3,2. Sector PE: 9,1 Low, 71c YearTurn-OperatingPre-taxHeadlineDividend...

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INDICATORS.
March 29, 2002... RetailIndustrialUnemploy-PrimeLong GDPCPISalesProductionmentRateBond 12-month%change % pa Australia+2,45Q3+3,11Dec+8,47Jann/a6,70Dec7,2522/36,3522/3 Canada+0,86Q4+1,54Feb+6,57Jan+0,66Dec7,90Febn/a5,9722/3...

INTEREST RATES.
March 29, 2002... Notice Deposits (Days) % Bank Fixed Deposits % Special Savings % Amounts in excess of R1000 Months500-1000-5000-10000-15000-20000-24000-25000-40000-50000- Call3260886912243660999-4999-9999-14999-19999-23999-24999-39999-49999-100000 ABSA Bank...

FUNDS TAKE THE PAIN.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Ian Fife High interest rates are hurting commercial property. Yields on listed loan stock companies have risen from 10,9% on September 20 to 15,4% on March 20 - a 30% drop in value. The reason for this is gearing, says...

AGGRESSIVELY POISED.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Sharon Wood Fund tilted towards financials and heavy offshore exposure The Investec Flexible Fund of Funds is aggressively geared towards local equity, with 75% invested in the Investec Managed Equity Fund, itself a multimanager...

FAIR IS FOUL AND FOUL IS FAIR.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Ian Fife Lawyers say fees have not been increased after seeing off estate agents What do lawyers do when their livelihood is no longer threatened by estate agents? They raise their fees. Fees paid by buyers and mortgage...

TELKOM IPO. EMERGING MARKETS BACK IN FAVOUR.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Marina Bidoli With the telecoms market in the US and Europe showing few signs of recovery from its slump, investors are putting more money into emerging markets with sound regulatory policies. SA should capitalise on this...

SEARCHING IN FOG AND FEAR.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Peter Wilhelm From Hell directed by Albert & Allen Hughes Why "From Hell"? Partly because in this Gothic thriller, Inspector Abberline (Johnny Depp) receives a purported message from Jack the Ripper from that salient address. It...

TRAINING YOUR BUM TO GET A LIFE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Peter Wilhelm In their drooling quest to seek out new categories in which to bestow ghastly awards, the dullard organisers of the Oscars [registered] have again failed to recognise the truly essential in contemporary film-making:...

FRANCHISE MAKEOVER/METCASH. THE SIGNS ARE A'CHANGING.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Michelle Joubert From Foodies to Friendlies Metro Cash & Carry's rebranding of its ailing Foodies convenience and IGA supermarket franchise chains isn't guaranteed to work - even if the exercise does include fixing the shoddy...

MONTERREY SUMMIT. NEW DRIVE AGAINST WORLD POVERTY.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Ferial Haffajee The UN conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey, Mexico last week set itself a goal that has eluded leaders for decades: to put a price on world poverty and find ways to fund it. It is...

Used, not useless.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Sasha Planting "Used, fully depreciated hardware is not redundant technology," says MD Rob Packham. "Older technology is perfectly adequate in certain niches, such as education, the Soho market and in developmental projects. ...

WAGING THE MIDLIFE WAR.
March 29, 2002... Byline: David Furlonger Bike costs soar Toys for boys? The midlife-crisis machine? Whatever the reason for buying, distributors of top-of-the-range motorcycles hope to sustain sales levels this year. For that to happen, however, they...

Activate this.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Duncan McLeod The technology, which is built into Office XP and Windows XP, forces users of the software to activate it - either over the Internet or telephonically. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, 2,6m attempts...

LET CATEGORIES MAKE SENSE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston LET CATEGORIES MAKE SENSE It struck me once again, at our recent unit trust awards, that unit trust classification confuses rather than helps the public. Many first-time readers of the unit trust tables would...

Pills, religion or nothing?
March 29, 2002... Byline: Margie Williams edited by John Brockman (Phoenix, 192pp) What is the greatest invention of the past 2000 years? This is the question John Brockman asked scientists on his Website. The answers are fascinating. Unsurprisingly,...

OLD MUTUAL AGGRESSIVE FOF WORLDWIDE ALL ASSETS AGGRESSIVE IN NAME ONLY Unit price: 276c Total assets R306m Holdings:* UK Money Market 27%, Investors Fund 20%, Financial & Industrial 15%, Worldwide 11%, Mining & Resources 8%, Consumer 7%, Financial.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas AGGRESSIVE IN NAME ONLY Unit price: 276c Total assets R306m Holdings:* UK Money Market 27%, Investors Fund 20%, Financial & Industrial 15%, Worldwide 11%, Mining & Resources 8%, Consumer 7%, Financial Services 6%,...

THE THINKER'S TALKER.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Linda Stafford At Lunch with the FM - Ferial Haffajee with SAfm's AM Live host John Perlman at Bukhara, Cape Town John Perlman, presenter of AM Live, is in Cape Town for a week of live broadcasts from parliament. We decide to get...

RAND SPECULATION. BANK LEFT DOOR OPEN.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald By failing to enforce rules Banks may well have allowed offshore clients to speculate on the rand. But that doesn't mean they did anything illegal. Over the past few years - until October 2001 - the Reserve...

RAND QUESTIONNAIRES. NO AMAZING REVELATIONS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Sharon Wood No-one ever said the Myburgh Commission would have it easy finding the culprits behind the rand's dramatic collapse in 2001. Take, for instance, the questionnaire sent out by the commission to institutions trading in...

RAND EXCHANGE RATES.
March 29, 2002... Mar 25 2002One foreign R1 =unit = R SDR*0,069*14,530 0,06814,762 Euro0,09910,101 0,09510,537 UK GBP0,06116,449 0,05917,003 US $0,08711,545 0,08411,965 Canada $0,1377,299 0,1327,576 Switzerland Fr0,1446,944 0,1397,194 France Fr0,6491,541...

LET'S GO TO COURT.
March 29, 2002... Byline: David Rasnick The mainstream scientists and doctors who comprise two-thirds of the President& 146;s Aids Advisory Panel have never tried to show Mbeki, his Ministers, or the other panel members even a splinter of the evidence...

CAR RENTAL FIRMS. TWO OF THREE TOP MDs DRIVE OFF.
March 29, 2002... Byline: David Furlonger MDs of two of SA's Big Three car rental companies have quit. Guy Harris has left Avis Rent A Car after less than a year in the job, and Nigel Webb has parted ways with Budget. He had been there just over two...

Responses. WAKEFORD.
March 29, 2002... I can't comment. I will be doing my public submission on April 2 as per the subpoena from the Myburgh Commission.

RESPONSES. DEUTSCHE BANK SA although it is consistent with some of the allegations we have heard in the.
March 29, 2002... DEUTSCHE BANK SA The allegations made in the letter are completely incorrect and without foundation. They are also defamatory towards Deutsche Bank. We are co-operating fully with the Myburgh Commission and therefore believe it would be...

Responses. Sasol.
March 29, 2002... The company refutes the allegations in their entirety as they pertain to Sasol and an appropriate statement will be made to the Myburgh Commission. - Pieter Cox, Sasol CE

CLOUDS AND LININGS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: David Williams The Super 12 At the halfway stage of the Super 12, we can say for sure that there is something seriously wrong with SA rugby. In previous seasons we had our disasters but there was always at least one side that...

SAAMBOU. PLAN 'A' WAS NOT SO BAD.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald But now it's probably too late Is humble pie on the menu at the Finance Department? That's the key question behind last week's announcement by Saambou curator John Louw that he may create a "public-private...

SAPPI. RISKS, RECORDS AND ROOTS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Andrew McNulty Eugene van As can bask in a blazing share price as he nears his retirement as CE Sappi, the pulp and paper maker, has a history of growing through taking large and seemingly risky bets on new projects or...

TRADEK/APPLETON/PSG. DEAL HANGS ON ONE CENT.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stuart Theobald Who's buying Appleton shares? With a market cap of R27m, Tradek is a peanut. But it should be feeling puffed up with the attention it's getting from two suitors: Appleton and PSG Investment Services. What makes...

VESTACOR. RETAIL.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stafford Thomas LACK OF TRANSPARENCY A BIG DRAWBACK Ord price: 124c Market cap R216m Div yield: - 12-month high, 140c; PE ratio: 4,6. Sector PE: 9,1 Low, 59c YearReve-Other Pre-taxHeadlineNAV tonueIncomeprofit Earnings(c)...

Wakeford's letter 8 JANUARY 2002. REPORT ON DUBIOUS FINANCIAL METHODS THAT HAVE IMPACTED ON THE RAND.
March 29, 2002... REPORT ON DUBIOUS FINANCIAL METHODS THAT HAVE IMPACTED ON THE RAND Introduction The weakness of the rand is no surprise but the extent and pace of the currency depreciation has been more severe than the wildest expectations of analysts. The...

ZIMBABWE. IN FOR THE LONG HAUL.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Tony Hawkins The economy can't be rigged; unity government hasn't caught on Players in Zimbabwe's unfolding, and worsening, crisis agree on one thing: no-one has yet come up with an end-game strategy to resolve the country's...

TIME FOR MINISTER TO SLAY TELKOM'S SACRED MILCH COW.
March 29, 2002... Telkom foreign shareholder Thintana has expressed deep unhappiness over SA's regulatory environment. Led by SBC Communications of the US, with Telekom Malaysia as a minority partner, Thintana has become increasingly aggressive in lobbying...

HUMAN RIGHTS AS A SHIELD FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE.
March 29, 2002... Human Rights Day, of course, has become merely one of those holidays South Africans tend to celebrate with their friends and families, generally focused on relaxation, food, drink and, of course, sport. This year, though, the occasion was...

AIDS. DROWNING IN DENIAL.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Claire Bisseker ANC stance slammed In the worst week in SA's botched struggle against Aids, there is a ray of hope - that leading scientists, senior ANC members and influential individuals are standing up to the dissident...

LEAVE IT TO SCIENCE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Mary Metcalfe What is the proper forum for the resolution of scientific questions? What is the role of expertise in policy formulation? How should political leadership use scientific knowledge in constructing public policy? These...

NOT GOOD PRACTICE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Dieter Gloeck Recent financial scandals and remarks by our Finance Minister have awakened a long-suppressed debate: should auditors be allowed to provide other services to the clients they audit? As far back as 1995, the results...

ODYSSEY OF CHINESE SAGE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Margaret Jordan Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian, translated from the Chinese by Mabel Lee (Flamingo, R77, 510pp) Completed in Paris in 1990, Soul Mountain won Gao Xingjian the Nobel prize for literature. He was named as a...

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. MATCHING CLIENTS' NEEDS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston Shift to specialist portfolios Thabo Khojane, Investec& 146;s head of institutional business development in SA, says this field is in its third phase locally. For its first six years, Investec& 146;s focus was on...

CORE PROCESS. MANAGERS HAVE A WINNING TEAM PHILOSOPHY.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston After some redeployment the right people have the right jobs Investec Asset Management is proud of its record of preserving and increasing the wealth of retirement fund clients. q The most widely followed funds...

EMERGING COMPANIES. PICKING TOMORROW'S WINNERS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston The Emerging Companies fund was the first specialist small cap fund in SA when it was launched in 1995 and its fortunes have mirrored the boom and bust of the sector. For the past year it has been managed by...

FIXED INTEREST. HANDS ACROSS THE GLOBE IN BILLION DOLLAR ASSETS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston There is now US$11,6bn under management Investec Asset Management runs an impressive US$11,6bn of fixed interest assets. By client type, 28% is in SA institutional assets, 20% in retail funds in SA, the UK and...

GLOBAL INVESTMENTS. INTEGRATING THE PRODUCTS INTO ONE PROCESS.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston Small teams can outperform larger companies Investec Asset Management's global equity capability was built up in 2000, when global chief investment officer George Brits persuaded a core of experienced portfolio...

THE BUSINESS. CRACKING IT IN THE BIG LEAGUE.
March 29, 2002... Byline: Stephen Cranston Though it's now a global company, the main objective is to No 1 at home Investec Asset Management opened its doors in 1991 with just R250m under management and this has grown to more than R250bn under management...