Gareth Tredway

Sasol chief executive Pat Davies says he expects the details of a "large" empowerment deal to be announced later this year. Davies first mentioned the deal in the company’s full year results announcement last year, when he said RMB had been appointed as advisors on the proposed deal.

Kumba Iron Ore, recently unbundled in a restructuring of Kumba Resources, says its earnings for the two months to end-December will be impacted by a R150-million one-off cost arising from the implementation of the Kumba Resources empowerment transaction.

Ipsa, the South African power developer, says it will start providing steam and power from its Newcastle gas-fired power plant from February 23, subject to the receipt of its generating licence. The plant will be Ipsa’s first as well as South Africa’s first independent gas-fired power plant.

An increased supply of oil to the market is expected to lower prices in the coming year, according to Standard Chartered Bank. "We expect the market tightness to ease during 2007, bringing oil prices lower overall. But further price spikes cannot be ruled out given ongoing political tensions," said Helen Henton, head of commodity research at the bank, in a statement on Wednesday.

Simmer and Jack, the gold producer and uranium hopeful, was the top performer of the JSE’s resource stocks in 2006, as the commodities it has interests in rose and its financing of new projects was closed. The share price gained 375,2% from its close at the end of 2005 of R1,05 per share up to the R4,99 it closed at last Friday.

Although gold has struggled to recoup its momentum after soaring to a 26-year high of $730/oz in May, a medium term view shows the metal is still trading about $100/oz more than it was a year ago and has outdone many expert forecasts made at that time.

The purchase by black-empowered Afripalm of a stake in Mvelaphanda Resources has injected new transaction clout into the company, which has been deal starved for more than two years. Mvela, currently an investment company, could now get the operator status it seeks to reduce the discount to net asset value at which it trades.

Lewellyn Delport, chief executive of Trans Hex, says he sees diamond prices moving either sideways or up depending on the demand over Christmas and the perception of the industry created by a Hollywood movie in coming months. "We are mindful of the issues like the <i>Blood Diamond</i> film’s effect on Christmas sales," said Delport.

With Sasol’s headline earnings figure already in the market following a trading update last week, investors will be looking at other corporate issues including growth, cost and cash management, when the company releases its full year results on Tuesday.