WEDNESDAY, 8.00AM
DE BEERS chairman Julian Ogilvie Thompson is to step down after 13 years, to make way for Nicholas Oppenheimer, now deputy chairman. Oppenheimer, 52, becomes the third generation Oppenheimer to chair the company, following grandfather Ernest and father Harry.
Ogilvie Thompson will retain his position as overall chairman of the greater Anglo American-Minorco-De Beers group.
Meanwhile, De Beers announced mixed half-yearly results which disappointed the market, leading to an R8 drop in share price to R163. Attributable earnings were up 19% to R2,3-billion, less than the market expected. The strength of the dollar and faltering growth in Asian markets such as Japan had knocked profits, but sales in the US were promising and would be key to the group’s performance in the second half of the year.