SABMiller, one of the world’s largest brewers, has received permission from the Slovak competition authority to acquire Slovakia’s third-largest brewery, Topvar, in a deal worth an estimated value of $15-million (as measured by net-asset value). SABMiller confirmed this to I-Net Bridge on Tuesday
Retail-sales data for December released earlier on Wednesday by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) show that growth in sales over the Christmas spending season was "phenomenal", and the spending spree is likely to continue, according to Standard Bank.
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/ 27 February 2006
Old Mutual South Africa, the South African subsidiary of listed insurance and financial-services group Old Mutual, has seen its operating profit grow by only 2% in 2005 due to only modest 2% growth in its life-assurance profits and a 13% reduction long-term investment return.
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/ 23 February 2006
The South African wine industry, represented by the South African Wine & Brandy Company, has officially asked the government for support in regaining a competitive advantage internationally following nine years of deregulation. The call for intervention comes as the industry faces extremely difficult market conditions both locally and internationally.
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/ 22 February 2006
Listed South African fashion retailer Truworths International has reported a 33% increase in its fully diluted headline earnings per share for the 26 weeks to the end of December 2005, to 90,4 cents from 68 cents in the year-earlier period. The company declared an interim dividend of 44 cents per share.
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/ 21 February 2006
Mr Price Home, the furniture, homeware and home decor chain of stores owned by listed retailer Mr Price Group, has reached the R1-billion mark in annual sales after only seven years of operations, the company announced on Tuesday. "This is an important milestone for Mr Price Home," said CEO Alastair McArthur.
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/ 21 February 2006
The CEO of Swedish financial-services group Skandia, Hans-Erik Andersson, faced with the recent success of Old Mutual’s R38-billion takeover of the company, has emphasised Skandia’s improved operations and his belief in the soundness of its current business model in his comments regarding Skandia’s 2005 annual results on Tuesday.
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/ 15 February 2006
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has unveiled a "good news for all" Budget for the next three years, providing for lower Budget deficits between 2005 and 2009, tax relief of R19,1-billion in 2006-07, and additional spending of R82-billion on priority infrastructure projects.
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/ 10 February 2006
The South African government is faced with such an embarrassment of riches in 2006/07 that Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel will be able to cut personal income tax by 1% across the board, reduce corporate income tax by 2%, and possibly halve the rate of retirement tax to 9%, according to Investec Asset Management.
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/ 7 February 2006
Gold-mining group Gold Fields is looking at acquisitions of international assets in much higher-risk areas than previously considered in order to meet its target of a 50/50 production split between South Africa and the rest of the world by 2009, according to CEO Ian Cockerill.