The information and communications technology (ICT) sector in South Africa has returned to health, according to a new study released this week. While four of the 37 listed companies included in the survey made a loss in 2004, this is down from more than a quarter in 2001, and compares well with other sectors.
Banking group Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), a division of Firstrand Bank, on Thursday announced the creation of Makalani Holdings — a company dedicated to mobilising capital for empowerment and development investments. Makalani will offer an alternative source for mezzanine funding, RMB said in a statement.
Financial services group Alexander Forbes said on Thursday that although there has been a strong operational performance across most of its businesses, it expects to record headline earnings per share of between 108 and 115 cents for the year ended March 31 — down 15% to 20% compared with the previous year’s restated 135 cents.
A drastic funding crisis could affect three million Ethiopians who need food aid, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a press release issued on Tuesday. WFP said it urgently needs $33-million to cover half the country’s emergency food needs for the next two and a half months.
Cambodian police have been ordered to capture dozens of buffaloes and cows roaming in the Angkor Wat heritage zone because of the dung they are leaving among the ruins, an officer said on Wednesday. Half a dozen police officers had spent about six hours on Wednesday trying to catch buffaloes bathing.
A middle-aged couple walked into a casino near the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, over the weekend and left minutes later with €641 215 (R5,08-million) after putting just 60 cents into a slot machine, a casino spokesperson said Wednesday. The couple inserted three 20-cent coins into the machine.
Former United States president Bill Clinton this week announced that the Clinton Foundation is pledging $10-million to provide Aids treatment.
Four schoolgirls held by an Iranian man armed with two knives were freed by police after a five-hour hostage drama in western Germany on Tuesday, a police spokesperson said. Police said one of the girls was slightly injured by a knife but they were otherwise unhurt.
Workers at Ingwe Collieries’ Zululand Anthracite Colliery, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BHP Billiton, are determined to get their severance packages because the new owner of the mine seems to be "somewhat dubious", trade union Solidarity said in a statement on Wednesday.
Absa has launched a new Gold facility option, designed to ease debt consolidation. It is a home loan and cheque account accessed by Absa internet banking, with a single management fee that covers everyday transactions. "The Gold facility has been designed with consumer interests and flexibility in mind," Absa said.
Directors who fail to ensure their companies comply with the provisions of broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) legislation, or fail to take into account the requirements of the legislation, may be in breach of their fiduciary duty and find themselves saddled with a claim for damages from the company, an attorney has warned.
Is it just me or has there been a sudden wave of innovation in the techno-world over the past few weeks? It just seems as if there is, suddenly, a whole bunch of cool stuff I need to try. I am not normally prone to gushing, but I’d like to enthuse about three cool tech things that have captured my attention lately: a gadget, a great local bandwidth-busting internet service and a nifty, free piece of software.
"One of the things to understand when trying to comprehend what Japan is all about, is that it’s a formalised society, with multiple layers of rituals and traditions stretching back to a time when the Western world was still living in straw huts, making dung fires and thinking a distance of 5km was a long journey." Ian Fraser looks eastwards and tries to unpack Japanese culture.
Twice over the past few years small black economic empowerment (BEE) deals in agriculture have trumped multimillion rand deals to win the BusinessMap Empowerment Awards. The latest is the purchase by Grasslands Development Trust of 100% of Grasslands Agriculture. This is the real deal, with the trust, comprising 49 Grassland Group farm workers, buying a 478ha dairy farm.
The Vietnamese government has passed a decree to allow the punishment of people who discriminate against HIV-positive individuals in the country. This allows the government to fine anyone who, for example, publicises test results, names, addresses or photos of HIV-positive people without their consent.
The Liberty Group said on Tuesday it believes the merger process with Capital Alliance provides the ideal opportunity to restructure the two businesses to obtain maximum synergies. The group has communicated some of its thinking on the proposed post-merger structure for the combined group.
Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, has made a rare public appearance for her beloved Conservative Party — at a glitzy London lap-dancing club. Thatcher (79), toting her trademark handbag, turned up on Sunday at Stringfellow’s for a Tory fund-raising event ahead of the May 5 general election.
The Webby Awards, the leading international awards for websites, on Tuesday recognised the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> as Webby Worthy, a distinction made for the first time this year to recognise sites exhibiting remarkable achievement. The Webby Awards have been hailed as the "online Oscars" by <i>Time</i> magazine.
IT solutions and retail group Connection Holdings on Tuesday reported a 50,7% increase in headline earnings per share to 52,44 cents for the six months ended February 28 this year, from 34,79 cents for the corresponding period a year ago. In line with current practice, the group declared no interim dividend.
The end of poverty is a choice, not a forecast. There are a billion people on Earth fighting daily for their survival. The world has committed, in the Millennium Development Goals, to cut extreme poverty by half by 2015. By 2025, extreme poverty can be banished. The fight against extreme poverty can be won, but only if George W Bush recognises that military might alone won’t secure the world.
China Resources Snow Breweries, an associate of London and South African-listed SABMiller, has entered into an agreement with the Fuyang City government to acquire the assets of the Fuyang City Snowland Brewery Company in Anhui province for a cash consideration of $15-million.
A Colombian football fan has won the right to change his name to that of his favourite club, but only after a tortuous seven-year legal battle. The ruling handed down on Friday by the country’s Constitutional Court allows the 55-year-old supporter to call himself Deportivo Independiente Medellin Giraldo Zuluaga.
A wedding day is always special, but for British couples getting married on Saturday at the Windsor Guildhall, their nuptials had an added sprinkling of second-hand royal glamour. Three weddings took place after Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles tied the knot inside the 17th-century civic building.
Organisers of a performance-art show featuring 100 naked women had to call in police reinforcements to control a long and impatient queue of people, police said on Saturday. Scuffles broke out late on Friday as people tried to jump over the barriers to get closer to the women.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world tuned in to watch Pope John Paul II’s funeral on television, but more people in The Netherlands watched Prince Charles’s wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles, according to figures published on Sunday. About 1,9-million people in The Netherlands watched Saturday’s royal wedding.
South African banking group Absa has acquired a 50% controlling stake in Banco Comercial Angolano, a financial services provider based in Luanda, Angola. The stake, which entitles Absa to board and management control of BCA, was acquired for $7,5-million. The balance of shares will continue to be privately owned by Angolan residents.
Rand Merchant Bank on Monday unveiled its latest securitisation of auto loans and leases for BMW Financial Services — a R1,4-billion issue consisting of nine categories of notes of varying maturities. The notes, which will be listed on the Bond Exchange of South Africa on April 15 this year, target two principal classes of investor.
I remember hanging around in my white American friend Paul’s house in Lusaka when we were about 12 years old and listening to a well-worn vinyl that had Bill Cosby or somebody’s voice bubbling out of it in a live recording from a stand-up show he was doing somewhere in the US of A. One scene springs to mind …
"It is only by creating conditions in which people can speak out without fear that we can begin to end the silence surrounding South Africans living with Aids and HIV." In an edited extract from his book, Edwin Cameron recalls the moments that accompanied his HIV disclosure.
The South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) received millions of rands from Swedish arms manufacturers who were bidding for the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> has found that R2,5-million was pumped into the coffers of Sanco’s investment arm by Swedish arms company Celsius.
The leader of Nigeria’s Senate resigned on Tuesday after being accused of bribery. He quit less than 24 hours after President Olusegun Obasanjo sacked his minister of housing for trying to sell off government houses at knock-down prices. "I hereby step aside as president of the Senate to enable me to attend to all the allegations against me," Adolphus Wabara told the Senate chamber.
Ten years into our brave new democracy and the sullen curse of racism still stains the rainbow. Have you, as a white person, erased your prejudices and adjusted your reactions to the new realities? Answer honestly the eight questions below and test yourself.