WEDNESDAY, 6.00PM:
NEW vehicle sales in January were sharply down on the same month last year, according to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa).
Total vehicle sales amounted to 25204 against last January’s 28182.
The sales of passenger cars declined to 17496 to last year’s 19835.
However, the export market has made up somewhat for the domestic slump, rising 69,4% from 11553 units in 1996 to 19569 in 1997.
McCarthy Motor Holdings chief executive Brand Pretorius blames the January domestic slump on a general economic slowdown, helped along by the late reopening of companies after the December holidays.
Volkswagen SA MD Graham Hardy said the January sales levels could point to a resurgent second quarter sales cycle. He predicts that car prices will be held down this year, with competition stirred by the weaker South East Asian economies and the relative advantage of the Korean motor companies.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
SABC WARNS SWAZIS
THE SA Broadcasting Corporation warned Swaziland Television on Wednesday that it is contravening international copyright laws by rebroadcasting the SABC’s signal in the small, landlocked kingdom. African Eye news service reports that Swaziland TV has been retransmitting large portions of the SABC’s daily broadcasts to local viewers without paying for the programming or holding a licence to do so for the past five years. Swazi TV’s acting chief executive Mike Cornwell said that the station first needs a formal Swazi cabinet resolution ordering it to halt transmission because the issue “involves a foreign country”. He conceded, however, that Swaziland could get into “serious trouble” if it continues to screen SABC material.
DBSA ISSUES SA’S LONGEST DATED COUPON BOND
THE Development Bank of Southern African (DBSA) has returned to the eurorand bond market, issuing a 30-year, R1-billion bond carrying a 13,5% coupon. It’s now the longest maturity coupon bond issue by a local borrower, and follows on the DBSA’s issue last July of its 30-year, R7,5-billion zero coupon bond.
AMF COPPER FIND IN ZAMBIA
AMERICA Mineral Fields (AMF) announced the discovery of a significant copper anomaly falling within the ambit of its wholly owned subsidiary, Zamgold. AMF is currently disputing Democratic Republic of Congo mining concessions granted to Anglo American.
NAIL SECURES CONTROL OF METLIFE
NEW Africa Investments Limited (Nail) has tightened its grip on life assurer Metlife, increasing its shareholding from 34,9% to 51%, after a share swap with Metlife minorities closed last week. Nail plans to make Metlife a all-round financial services company, with a short term insurer and separate asset management company.
SHOPRITE FACES BOYCOTT IN NAMIBIA
SHOPRITE Checkers, on the verge of opening a new store in its own shopping complex in Katatura in Windhoek, has been threatened with a boycott by the Namibia Indigenous Peoples Business Council. The council opposes the store’s targetting a black market without offering black people equity.
M-WEB BUYS CAPE TOWN’S GEM
INTERNET service provider M-Web, a majority shareholder in the Electronic Mail&Guardian, has purchased Cape Town’s Gem Internet, for an amount said to be “a couple of million rand”.
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