THURSDAY 12.00NOON:
EIGHT groupings have made bids to government for a 100% stake in parastatal holiday resort company Aventura, the public enterprises ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry said it expects to announce a pre-qualification shortlist early next week, following which the shortlisted groups will be briefed and asked to submit bids.
Government said last month it will go ahead with the sale of Aventura, in spite of outstanding land claims against the company. Public enterprises ministry representative Wandile Zote added that an as yet undecided block of Aventura shares will be allocated to the National Empowerment Fund and an employee share scheme.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
COMESA REFORMS
The troubled 20 member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) met on Thursday to consider scrapping its Harare-based clearing house for exchanges using national currencies, on the grounds that increasing foreign exchange liberalisation by member states over the past 15 years has made it irrelevant. Two of the 20 member states, Lesotho and Mozambique, also announced that they plan to leave Comesa.
DE BEERS OPENS NEW MINE
DE BEERS has invested about US$5,5-million in prospecting and developing the Sesulela diamond mine in northern Botswana, it was announced on Thursday. The mine started full production two months ago, and De Beers has been granted a four-year lease. The new mine is De Beers’ third in Botswana.
LIBANON STRIKE ENDS
The signing of a productivity deal, coupled with a court interdict, saw 7 000 striking workers at Gold Fields SA’s Libanon mine return to work on Wednesday. Workers undertook to increase output by 4 000kg to 13 470kg (an amount similar to 1992 production at the mine). The deal will mean the mine has to produce 1 123kg of gold a month from the present figure of 789kg.
VOLVO LOOKS AT SA PLANT
SWEDISH car maker Volvo is considering opening a local assembly plant, the Swedish Dagens Industri newspaper reported on Wednesday. Volvo’s representative for the SA region Tom O’Donnelo said: “We have sold 4 000 cars in SA [since 1993], and the volume of sales is now high enough for us to look for an alternative.” Volvo closed down an assembly plant in Port Elizabeth 20 years ago.
SAB EARNINGS UP 12%
SOUTH African Breweries has posted a 12% rise in headline earnings for the six months to end September, largely as a result of the performance of the beer division. Beer division earnings rose to 12% to R437-million, accounting for 52% of total group earnings of R842-million. Earnings per share stood at 198,9c.
ALTECH’s R26m EXPORT DEAL
ALTECH, the listed defence and electronics subsidiary of Altron, said on Wednesday it had secured a R26-million export order for digital decoders from Nethold Mediterranean of Greece. The deal follows a recent R21-million local order for decoders, and comes six weeks after the group opened a new factory in KwaZulu-Natal.