Financial Mail articles from November 2005

Financial Mail archives from November 2005

Investor in people.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Investor in people By A n independent organisational climate study carried out on behalf of Business Connexion by Organizational Diagnostics has found that most of the employees at the group...

A new world.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ivo Vegter A new world Business Connexion has identified specific areas it wants to target as the telecom industry is opened to competition By Many heads will nod sagely when Willem van Rensburg says:...

Playing by the rules.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Playing by the rules Clients as well as investors demand sound corporate governance from ICT groups By Business Connexion has taken the imperative of corporate governance and regulatory...

Ensuring insurance.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ivo Vegter Ensuring insurance By Assupol Life has been in the insurance marketing and administration business since 1913. For 85 years it focused largely on niche markets in the civil service sector....

Packaged to fit.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Greg Gordon Packaged to fit By It's likely that few South Africans pass a day without touching a product packaged by Nampak. Whether it's a bottle, a plastic container, aerosol can or a cardboard box,...

Healthy partnership.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Healthy partnership By Massmart Holdings division Massdiscounters has had a relationship with Business Connexion that has remained constant throughout the past 15 years. ...

Real satisfaction.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ivo Vegter Real satisfaction By In East London, the largest private employer is a motor manufacturer. The second largest is Real People, a financial services company operating throughout Southern Africa...

Focus on security.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Focus on security By Business Connexion will invest around R150m over the next two financial years in the creation of new twin data centres in Midrand that will position the group for...

Bouncing back.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Bouncing back By SA's hardware infrastructure market is starting to show some signs of renewed growth after a dry spell that has lasted since the Y2K switchover. That's the word from Tim...

A steady ship.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ivo Vegter A steady ship By Demand for IT is growing again, after the dot-com bust lengthened the post-Y2K replacement cycle. This is visible in the performance of IT stocks in general, and Business...

Discerning and focused. The group is positioning itself for an expected upturn in the ICT industry.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Discerning and focused The group is positioning itself for an expected upturn in the ICT industry By Business Connexion has emerged from a protracted slump in the ICT market infused with a...

Geared for growth. The group carves out a leading position in SA's outsourcing market.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Geared for growth The group carves out a leading position in SA's outsourcing market By Business Connexion has spent the past year consolidating its already strong position in the SA...

Eye of the beholder.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ivo Vegter Eye of the beholder By When an organisation such as Business Connexion goes through two mergers and rebranding exercises in a period of 10 years, it learns a few things about how to do...

Beyond the heydays.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ivo Vegter Beyond the heydays By One of the most important trends in business application software, for both clients and suppliers such as Business Connexion, is the move away from just selling and...

Measuring up.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: DAVE ARON Measuring up BY Most companies have an IT delivery strategy, strong on the what, without much on the why. You need both IT STRATEGY Conventional wisdom has it that IT strategy is so well...

Not very intelligent.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: JAMES ROBERTSON Not very intelligent BY DR JAMES ROBERTSON Gartner says most organisations are not making better decisions than they did five years gowhy? BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Much emphasis has been...

Cultivating talent.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Cultivating talent The group invests in its staff, from those who require literacy training to the next generation of leaders By Business Connexion is investing heavily in building the...

ENTERPRISE APPLICATION. Still an enigma INTEGRATION.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris ENTERPRISE APPLICATION INTEGRATION Still an enigma Integration continues to present a conundrum for CIOs tasked with improving the agility of IT BY LANCE HARRIS MIDDLEWARE, ENTERPRISE...

CIO 2010 Fifa World Cup. FEVER PITCH.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: LANCE HARRIS CIO 2010 Fifa World Cup FEVER PITCH Huge investments will have to be made in IT infrastructure ahead of the 2010 soccer showcase BY AS THE FORMER head of SA's 2010 World Cup bid committee,...

2010 facts and figures.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris 2010 facts and figures The 2010 World Cup will pump more than R21bn into SA's economy, generate R12,7bn in direct spending and R7,2bn in tax revenues, and create around 159000 jobs,...

EDITORIAL. INBOX CIO AFRICA.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Duncan McLeod DUNCAN McLEOD mcleodd@fm.co.za IT'S HARD to believe it's almost the end of another year. I know it's a cliche, but 2005 seemsto me at leastto have flown past, faster than any other. Maybe...

Black economic empowerment. Charter chess. Corporate IT is making steady progress.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Black economic empowerment Charter chess Corporate IT is making steady progress BY SAMANTHA PERRY & LANCE HARRIS SLOWLY BUT surely, the once exclusively white face of the SA IT department...

Executive coach1. Flip that switch.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: PATRICIA WALLINGTON Executive coach1 Flip that switch Leaders need to think, and you can't do that if you're always onon call, on duty and on guard BY I ENJOY exercising on a treadmill, even though I...

Executive coach2. Don't listen to Jack!
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: SUSAN CRAMM Executive coach2 Don't listen to Jack! How to overcome the conspiracy that keeps you chained to your job BY IF YOU want your life to be more than a series of meetings, e-mails and business...

Executive coach3. Don't lead, enable.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: MICHAEL SCHRAGE Executive coach3 Don't lead, enable CIOs should stop trying to achieve buy-in from the business for their IT initiatives BY AN AMBITIOUS CIO came up with an excellent idea for one of the...

Happily ever after.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Happily ever after By When Business Connexion (then known as Comparex Africa) began its search for a black economic empowerment partner to take an equity stake in the group, it outlined...

IT management. The age of process.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: MICHAEL HAMMER IT management The age of process To avoid extinction, CIOs must move from a technology orientation to one centred on business processes BY IF RIP van Winkel were a CIO, awoken today from...

Open-source software. Thriller in Mozilla.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: BRIAN BAKKER Open-source software Thriller in Mozilla Is the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox Web browser the thin end of the open-source software wedge? BY WEB ANALYTICS firms that track the use of Web...

IT governance. Itil be super, man.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: BEN WORTHEN IT governance Itil be super, man Why the IT Infrastructure Library is becoming one of the most popular process frameworks for running IT BY WHEN MEAD and Westvacothe US's two largest forest...

Itil in brief. Itil books distinguish seven IT practice areas.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Itil in brief Itil books distinguish seven IT practice areas 1. Service support Describes the processes associated with the day-to-day support and maintenance activities involved in the provision of IT services. 2....

From inception to implementation IT that matters. THAT'S RADICAL!
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: PAUL FURBER From inception to implementation IT that matters THAT'S RADICAL! Introducing an avant-garde approach to software development BY EXTREME PROGRAMMING In one of the greatest books on software...

Financial services. Y'ELLO M-BANKING.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Lance Harris Financial services Y'ELLO M-BANKING Standard Bank's joint venture with MTN is designed to get around the technical obstacles that have stood in the way of mass adoption of mobile banking BY...

Toyota Motorsport. How to spend $600m.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Ivo Vegter Toyota Motorsport How to spend $600m How IT has helped Toyota Motorsport move up the rankings of Formula 1 BY IVO VEGTER JEFFREY K LIKER wrote the book that coined the phrase that embodies...

Auditing IT. Bean there, done IT.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Larry Claasen Auditing IT Bean there, done IT The bean counters are moving into the server room. But don't panicit might not be a bad thing BY LARRY CLAASEN AUDITORS HAVE long stopped regarding the...

The power of processes. How Itil stacks up against other popular frameworks.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Wikipedia.org The power of processes How Itil stacks up against other popular frameworks ITIL The IT Infrastructure Library is a customisable framework of best practices that promote quality computing...

SAA. New system takes flight.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Larry Claasen SAA New system takes flight SA Airways has implemented crew scheduling software, called PegaSys, to make it easier to match its 2800 flight attendants and 800 pilots to the 700 destinations...

How does it work?
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Wikipedia.org How does it work? Flash memory eventually wears out physically Flash memory is a form of rewritable memory chip that is nonvolatile, which means that it stores information on a silicon...

NOTEBOOKS.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: za.lge.com NOTEBOOKS Lap dance As Internet connectivity becomes more and more abundant, users across the country are adopting the concept of the mobile office. However, to embrace it, users need good,...

MANAGEMENT REPORT. Why IT leaders fail.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Edward Prewitt MANAGEMENT REPORT Why IT leaders fail The nature of leadership is a subject of eternal debate, but there's no mystery why leaders fail, according to a recent study from US consultancy the...

NEW CORPCAPITAL. Investment banks.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Michael Coulson NEW CORPCAPITAL Investment banks Not much left to go for Ord price: 24c Market cap R91,2m 12-month high, 35c; low, 20c Sector PE: 13,3 Year Rev- Pretax NAV Headline Distrib to enue profit...

STORAGE. Flash attack: is the hard disk drive doomed?
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Brian Bakker STORAGE Flash attack: is the hard disk drive doomed? Recent comments by Samsung's semiconductor CEO Hwang Chang-gyu Hwang created a furore in the data storage market. Implying that hard disk...

Alexander Forbes. MORE FIRES TO FIGHT.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston Alexander Forbes MORE FIRES TO FIGHT After taking a R111m hit for one-off costs in Alexander Forbes' International Risk Services (IRS) business (centred on the old Nelson Hurst Lloyd's...

SOA. The next big thing?
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Brian Bakker SOA The next big thing? CIOs and other IT professionals are subjected to a constant onslaught from marketers at the large IT vendors. One of the more recent areas to receive the attention of...

ALEXANDER FORBES. Insurance brokers.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston ALEXANDER FORBES Insurance brokers Not a cheap share any more Ord price: 1449c Market cap R6,84bn Div yield: 4,6% 12-month high, 1480c; PE ratio: 13,3. Sector PE: 7,8 Low, 978c Six Turn-...

INTERTRADING. Farming & fishing.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Michael Coulson INTERTRADING Farming & fishing Not yet a recovery stock Ord price: 48c Market cap R24m Div yield: 2,1% 12-month high, 63c PE ratio: . Sector PE: 14,5 Low, 40c Six Turn- Operating Pretax...

ANOTHER WEEK.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) AT HOME The ANC national executive rejects claims that Thabo Mbeki is leading a political conspiracy against Jacob Zuma. It's confirmed that a case number has been issued over a rape allegation against Zuma by an...

SCRAP THE PROVINCES.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Harry Mashabela SCRAP THE PROVINCES Scrapping provincial governments would help us find the skills and funds we need to bolster our municipalities Harry Mashabela is an Azapo local councillor in...

THE LENGTHENING SHADOW OF JACOB ZUMA.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) THE LENGTHENING SHADOW OF JACOB ZUMA The merest suspicion of rape, let alone a formal allegation lodged with the police, should be reason enough for a public figure to stand down until his name has been cleared. In...

Cinema. WESTERN RED.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Peter Wilhelm Cinema WESTERN RED A History of Violence directed by David Cronenberg From the director who gave us Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers and The Fly, it's no surprise that from its inception A History...

ASTRAL FOODS. Farming & fishing.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Michael Coulson ASTRAL FOODS Farming & fishing The pick of the poultry stocks Ord price: 7250c Market cap R3,23bn Div yield: 5,2% 12-month high, R76; PE ratio: 7,6. Sector PE: 14,5 Low, R50 Year Turn-...

Road Accident Fund. HEADING FOR THE WEALTHY.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Carol Paton Road Accident Fund WHEELS WOBBLE FOR THE WEALTHY The changes made to the Road Accident Fund (RAF), through its recent amendment by parliament, will make things easier for the poor but harder...

ABSA. Banks.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston ABSA Banks Still scope for growth Ord price: R91,20 Market cap R60,8bn Div yield: 3,9% 12-month high, R100; PE ratio: 10,0. Sector PE: 11,2 Low, R65,70 Six Net Nonint Pretax Headline...

Books. STILL MORE TO SAY.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Richard Steyn Books STILL MORE TO SAY In Command of History; In the Footsteps of Churchill by David Reynolds (Penguin Books, R133, 645pp); by Richard Holmes (BBC Books; R284, 351pp) Forty years after...

FIFTY DIFFERENT SHARPS AND FLATS.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jamie Carr FIFTY DIFFERENT SHARPS AND FLATS I first made nodding acquaintance of Rattus when he used to frequent a tree outside my study window. My rodent identification is woefully inadequate, but all...

Absa. AEROBATIC MECHANICS.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston Absa AEROBATIC MECHANICS Implementing a merger while running a business has been compared to servicing a 747 while it is in the air. Absa CEO Steve Booysen says the group's...

Telkom/Business Connexion. BIG CHANGES TO COME.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Duncan McLeod Telkom/Business Connexion BIG CHANGES TO COME Bid under way as new law opens way for the convergence of industries Telkom's bid for Business Connexion (BCX) could trigger the start of...

DIMENSION DATA. Software & computer services.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Duncan McLeod DIMENSION DATA Software & computer services Slow road to recovery Ord price: 417c Market cap R5,6bn Div yield: 12-month high, 489c; PE ratio: 45,7. Sector PE: 20,2 Low, 350c Year Turn-...

GAMING. Workouts for the geek set.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Diann Daniel GAMING Workouts for the geek set High on entertainment value but low on fat-burning potential, video games do not typically offer players the opportunity to break a sweat. But a new trend in...

CORONATION FUND MNGRS. Speciality & other finance.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston CORONATION FUND MNGRS Speciality & other finance Worth buying for yield Ord price: 585c Market cap R2,24bn Div yield: 6,1% 12-month high, 600c; PE ratio: 12,3. Sector PE: 13,3 Low, 327c...

Diamonds & Dogs.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jamie Carr Diamond Investec Hats off to a set of excellent results from what looks to have become a distinctly grown-up business. Critics in the past have waved an admonitory finger at revenue streams...

DID YOU HEAR?
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Old Mutual's unit trust division has mailed a newsletter to investors warning of the decline in earnings from money market funds. A R1m investment made in September 2002 would have paid an average monthly income...

EDCON. General retailers.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Chris Gilmour EDCON General retailers Further headroom possible Ord price: 3095c Market cap R17,3bn Div yield: 4,9% 12-month high, 3450c; PE ratio: 10,2. Sector PE:11,9 Low, 2395c Six Turn- Operating...

TAKING LAST ORDERS.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Justice Malala TAKING LAST ORDERS 'The wife of legendary proprietor Majandrith Ranchod had made being rude her unique selling proposition' HHHKapitan's Restaurant 11a Kort Street Johannesburg (011)...

Gold Fields. VENEZUELAN HAT DANCE.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Brendan Ryan Gold Fields VENEZUELAN HAT DANCE Gold Fields' decision to buy Bolivar Gold for US$330m (R2,2bn) in cash has flouted conventional North American investment thinking on Venezuela. The reason...

ILLOVO. Food processors.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Michael Coulson ILLOVO Food processors Yield could be sweet, too Ord price: 1060c Market cap R3,58bn Div yield: 3,2% 12-month high, 1085c PE ratio: 15,5. Sector PE: 14,5 Low, 725c Six *Turn- *Operating...

INVESTEC. Speciality & other finance.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston INVESTEC Speciality & other finance A high-growth share again: buy Ord price: R263 Market cap R31,57bn* Div yield: 3,4% 12-month high, R270; PE ratio: 13,8. Sector PE: 12,0 Low, R143,60...

Rugby. LEEKS IN WALES.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: David Williams Rugby LEEKS IN WALES Autumn Internationals Have you noticed how the referees are tending to overlook passes that are forward? The laws say that a ruck is formed when two or more players,...

Local elections. ANC LISTS UNDER CAREFUL SCRUTINY.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Carol Paton Local elections ANC LISTS UNDER CAREFUL SCRUTINY Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo and other senior politicians in the city have been rescued from defeat in the ANC election list process. This...

LONMIN. Platinum.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Brendan Ryan LONMIN Platinum Targeting growth and costs Ord price: R171 Market cap R24,3bn Div yield: 2,8% 12-month high, R175; PE ratio: 23,7 Sector PE: 24,5 Low, R98 Year Turn- Operating Pretax...

SCENES OF THE CRIME.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs SCENES OF THE CRIME Do above-the-line and below-the-line agencies working on the same brands ever talk to each other? As usual at this time of year, newspapers are crammed with retail...

TOO COOL FOR WORDS.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs TOO COOL FOR WORDS The latest KFC TV commercial shows two surfers at the beach in their Kombi. They are munching Hawaiian Twister burgers as they relax after a day on the waves. They are...

Herdbuoys McCann Erickson. AIRHEADS.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs HerdBuoys McCann-Erickson AIRHEADS SAA nonpayment hurts agency's credibility SA Airways (SAA) owes its advertising agency, HerdBuoys McCann-Erickson, up to R20m in outstanding production and...

Beverages market. IN CIDER TRADING.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Chris Gilmour Beverages market IN CIDER TRADING After an absence of more than two years, Crossbow Cider is making a comeback to SA. Formerly owned by Bulmer's, which left the country in 2003, Crossbow...

Advertising standards. NISSAN BACK FROM HELL.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs Advertising standards NISSAN BACK FROM HELL Nissan has won its appeal to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against the banning of its TV commercial for the 350Z roadster. The...

Best Company. STRATE TO THE TOP.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: David Furlonger Best Company STRATE TO THE TOP And the winner (belatedly) is... Strate. SA's central securities repository should have been named among the winners on September 28 at the Best Company To...

FCB. WHEEL OF FORTUNE.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Jeremy Maggs FCB WHEEL OF FORTUNE South Africa's biggest agency, FCB, is predicting a bumper 2006 for the advertising industry after adding an estimated R100m in billings of its own this year. In a year...

DID YOU HEAR.
November 25, 2005... (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...

Music industry. A WARNING NOTE.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Themba Hlengani Music industry A WARNING NOTE The SA music scene is booming but piracy threatens to undermine recent successes Rock musician Arno Carstens and kwaito star Mduduzi Mandoza Tshabalala,...

MR PRICE. General retailers.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Chris Gilmour MR PRICE General retailers Interstellar overdrive Ord price: 1615c Market cap R3,7bn Div yield: 4,4% 12-month high, 1650c; PE ratio: 12,3. Sector PE: 12,0 Low, R10 Six Turn- Operating...

Art. BEYOND THE SURFACE.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Michael Coulson Art BEYOND THE SURFACE Conrad Botes (Absa, MoMo); Sonja Brits (gordart); Geoff Horne (Crake); Gerhard Marx (Siebrits) Of Botes' two shows, that at Absa derives in part from his stay in...

OLD MUTUAL SMALL COs. Domestic equity smaller cos.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Stephen Cranston OLD MUTUAL SMALL COs Domestic equity smaller cos Bolder bets are paying off Unit price: 642c Total assets R931m Top ten holdings:* Astral Foods, Ellerine, WBH-Ovcon, Itatile,...

People. SIZE COUNTS.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Claire Bisseker People SIZE COUNTS At breakfast with the FM with Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) CEO Thabo Dloti at the Cape Grace Hotel, V& A Waterfront, Cape Town One of 10 siblings growing up in...

Family businesses. IT'S ITS ALL IN THE BLOODLINE.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Chris Gilmour Family businesses IT'S ALL IN THE BLOODLINE What is it about family-controlled businesses in general, and that of the Ackerman family in particular, that has made Pick 'n Pay so successful?...

Pick 'n Pay. BUILT ON PRINCIPLE.
November 25, 2005... (From Financial Mail) Byline: Chris Gilmour Pick 'n Pay BUILT ON PRINCIPLE A careful blend of family flair and hired talent has paid off handsomely Pick 'n Pay is the darling of the investment community. It may not be the...