Staff Reporter

Africa — dismissed in the United Kingdom media six years ago as "The Hopeless Continent" — is beginning to attract the attention of UK pension funds as an investment destination with substantial long-term potential. Botswana-registered Imara financial-services group reported this week that its Imara African Opportunities Fund has received its first inflows from a UK pension fund.

South Africa’s Gold Fields — the fourth largest gold mining company in the world — is to acquire 50% of South Deep from Barrick, increase its stake in Western Areas to 34,7% with an option to go to 41%, and make a general offer to Western Areas shareholders, it said on Monday.

Following a turbulent first eight months of the year, Investec Asset Management (IAM) remains cautiously optimistic on equities. Investec Asset Management director Jeremy Gardiner said in commentary on Friday that the JSE’s all-share index was up 23% this year, exceeding all expectations.

The country’s six largest clothing retailers, Edcon, Truworths, Woolworths, Foschini, Pepkor and Mr Price on Wednesday said that further concerns have emerged as they compile the necessary information in response to the government’s proposed imposition of quotas on Chinese clothing imports.

Dutch brewing giant Heineken on Wednesday reported a 25,5% net profit gain in the first six months of the year but warned that the final six months would pose tougher challenges. The group, citing strong performances in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the Americas, said net profit leapt to â,¬433-million in the first six months of the year.

The next time you look at the careers pages and see an advert for a position you might be interested in, don’t be led astray by the very attractive salaries published there, as these top packages are generally granted only to the very best in the field. These job advertisements can create unrealistic expectations with job seekers.

Inflating your current salary package during an interview may be a way of bumping up future earnings, but the risk of being found out and kicked off the shortlist far outweighs the potential reward, says Debbie Goodman, MD of Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters, which places many of the top executives in South Africa’s leading corporations.

Buying a home is one of the smartest investment decisions anyone can ever make — and here’s the data to prove it. Saul Geffen, CEO of MortgageSA, South Africa’s largest mortgage originator, says that there is a lot of conflicting advice out there at the moment because the market has cooled.

Nominal growth of 13,6% year-on-year in house prices was recorded in August 2006, compared with a revised growth rate of 14% in July, the latest Absa house-price index shows. This brought the average price of a house in the middle segment of the market to about R816 000 in August.

Mvelaphanda Group, South Africa’s largest black-owned, -controlled and -managed diversified industrial and financial group, on Tuesday announced a 124% increase in headline earnings per ordinary share to 322c per share for the year ended June 30 2006, on the back of a stellar investment performance and solid results from its operations.

The South African Chamber of Business’ (Sacob) Business Confidence Index (BCI) declined marginally from 99,1 in July to 99 in August, Sacob said on Tuesday. Sacob said although the index declined marginally by 0,1 index point from July to August, the BCI was poised over developing balance of payments constraints and the prospect of remedial policy action.