Lynn Bolin

Old Mutual Healthcare, a division of London- and Johannesburg-listed Old Mutual plc, has dominated the results of the annual TWIG SA research into service levels across South Africa’s health-care industry, being ranked by medical providers as first in terms of overall service.

Absa, South Africa’s largest retail bank in terms of customers at 6,96-million, has announced bank-fee increases of between 4% and 7% for 2005, which will become effective from April 1. "These fees were determined in response to the additional needs of our customers," Absa said.

Amid a backdrop of buoyant consumer and government spending, higher international commodity prices, lower inflation and stable interest rates in 2004, the South African Reserve Bank quarterly bulletin reviewing macroeconomic activity in 2004 paints a very positive picture of an economy experiencing accelerating growth.

Listed sugar, aluminium and property development group Tongaat-Hulett is expected to accelerate its earnings growth in 2005 through both incremental growth and investment opportunities, after posting a turnaround in 2004.

Allan Gray Limited, one of South Africa’s top unlisted asset-management groups, has announced a series of transactions and initiatives that will result in a 25% black empowerment (BEE) shareholding in the company, the launch of a focused effort to encourage black entrepreneurship and the acceleration of the internal transformation of the company.

Global banking group Barclays is expecting the rand to strengthen again to below R6 per dollar in the coming months and bond yields to recover on the back of continued strong commodity prices, low inflation and lower interest rates in 2005, according to a recent research report by Barclays Capital.

Listed hotels and gaming group Sun International plans to dispose of its 38,6% stake in fellow hotel group City Lodge Holdings for R627-million, equating to R38,50 per share. Once the transaction is completed, BEE individuals and groupings will hold more than 25% interest in Sun International and its subsidiaries.

Listed plastic and packaging producer Transpaco has finalised negotiations to purchase printed cartons producer Britepak Trading for R18,5-million, payable out of Transpaco’s resources, the group announced on Thursday. The acquisition provides a vehicle for Transpaco to lessen its dependence on plastic-based materials.

Namibian-listed brewer Namibian Breweries, one of the country’s largest private-sector employers, has reported a fall in its headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of December 2004 to 18,4 cents, from 19,4 cents in the year-earlier period. The group declared an interim dividend of 5,5 cents per share.

Looking at the final results posted by Metropolitan Holdings on Wednesday, the group’s strong new life-business growth in most segments shows that it is continuing to gain market share from most of its competitors, particularly in the area of employee benefits, according to Metropolitan CEO Peter Doyle.

Old Mutual, South Africa’s largest insurer, will unveil details of its black economic empowerment (BEE) plans in the "near future", its CEO has confirmed. The group has been working on a transaction involving the sale of a 10% stake in its South African operations, as well as Nedcor and Mutual & Federal, to black empowerment partners.

Food and furniture retailer Shoprite has reported a 55,4% rise in its headline earnings per share for the six months ended December 2004, to 60,6 cents from 39 cents a year earlier. The group said it envisages declaring an interim dividend of 22 cents per share, representing a 33,3% increase on the 16,5 cents declared at the interim stage in 2004.

Listed clothing food and homeware retailer Woolworths has successfully completed the first-ever securitisation of its in-store credit card with the issue and private placement of R1,9-billion in AAA-rated notes, the company said on Monday. The group’s new securitisation programme, Account on Us, issued four tranches of notes.

Banking group Mercantile Lisbon has seen its headline loss for 2004 widen by 3,8 times over that of 2003, at R213,8-million from R56,5-million a year earlier. The group’s headline loss per share came in at 11,7 cents, up from 6,6 cents in 2003, and no dividend was declared.

Financial services group Investec has raised R1-billion via its public offer of preference shares, increasing the number of new shares issued from five million to 10-million to help meet demand for the shares. Combined with its previous private placement totalling R1,3-billion, the group has raised R2,3-billion via preference share issues.

Sakhikamva Investments, a broad- based black empowerment (BEE) investment company with shareholders including The Big Issue and the Black Sash Trust, has declared its third dividend of R200 per share to its shareholders. Sakhikamva was established in 2001 to facilitate broad-based, grassroots participation in the empowerment process.

The partnerships between De Beers and the governments of diamond-producing countries will be key in transforming the diamond industry going forward, but as the senior partner, the South African government should use its stick "very infrequently" or the company could "disengage", De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer has cautioned.