MONDAY, 11.00AM:
BLACK empowerment group Thebe Investment Corporation is set to enter the retail petroleum market through its Thebe Petroleum Company (Tepco), which intends opening its first retail filling stations early in the new year.
Tepco, formerly Bambanani Petroleum, was formed two years ago to wholesale petroleum, with the company 80% owned by Thebe, while the Batho Batho Trust held 8% and management held 2%. With its success in wholesaling petroleum products to government, parastatals and the commercial sector, the company now feels it is ready to enter the retail market.
Unlike previous forays by black firms into petrol retailing, Tepco intends to go it alone. “We wanted to establish ourselves independently first and start up a company from scratch, rather than link up with existing firms — that is the difference between Tepco and the other black companies in the industry,” said Tepco marketing manager Fortune Majasi.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
LIBANON STRIKE ABOUT 7_300 workers at Kloof Gold Mining Company’s Libanon mine on the far West Rand have failed to report for work since Sunday night, the mine said in a statement on Monday. It said the action constitutes an unprotected strike as provided for in the Labour Relations Act of 1995. Discussions with management and employee representatives are continuing. Libanon sustained a working loss of R17,9-million in the quarter ending September 30 1997.
SAPPI GOES DUTCH SAPPI’s purchase of the KNP Leykam, the paper division of Dutch group NV Koninklijke KNP BT, was at the weekend approved by Koninklijke. Sappi CEO Eugene van As said his company will not issue additional shares to finance the deal as Sappi’s current share price is considerably below the net asset value.
JSE TURNOVER SURGES TURNOVER on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, excluding arbitrage activity, leapt 83,6% in the first 10 months of the year to R172,89-billion, the JSE said last week. By October 31, market capitalisation had risen 1,4% year-on-year. The exchange added that 15 new firms were listed on the bourse in October, brining the total so far this year to 32, compared to 28 for the whole of last year.