Thabang Mokopanele

Listed electronic equipment group Allied Electronics Corporation Limited (Altron) on Tuesday reported a 17% increase in headline earnings per share to 161 cents for the year ending February 28 2005, from 138 cents a year ago. The group declared an ordinary dividend of 63 cents per share — an increase of 21% from 52 cents previously.

Trade union Solidarity on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to its negotiating team to declare a dispute with employers’ organisations in the metal and engineering industry if no new offer was received from employers. Solidarity said this means that the trade union may approach its members for a strike mandate after Tuesday’s negotiations.

Trade union Solidarity on Monday launched its social plan for Stilfontein in the North West. The plan aims to support the community and workers through difficult times due to the closure of DRDGold mines in that area. The plan includes counselling, financial advice, training, placements and community aid.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Tuesday said it anticipates tough wage talks ahead of its first round of negotiations on Thursday with the Steel Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa. The parties will lock horns to determine wages and working conditions of 310 000 workers.

The Department of Minerals and Energy said on Tuesday that it anticipates the retail price of petrol (all octane grades) will rise by 19 cents per litre (c/l) effective on May 4. The department said the wholesale price of diesel (0,05% sulphur) could increase by 11c/l, while the wholesale price of illuminating paraffin could be raised by 23c/l.

The Competition Tribunal on Tuesday made public its reasons for the conditional approval of the merger between Multichoice Subscriber Management, a subsidiary of M-Web Holdings, which owns M-Web and Tiscali. On January 17 this year, the tribunal approved the merger subject to two conditions.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday said it is still consulting with its lawyers on whether to go ahead in seeking a court interdict to stop gold-miner Harmony Gold from retrenching workers. An NUM spokesperson said the union is still not sure whether it will go ahead in seeking the interdict against the company.

Santam Risk Finance, a wholly-owned subsidiary of short-term insurance group Santam, on Friday announced that it has concluded a deal with Kagiso Treasury Services — partly owned by Kagiso Trust Investments — to sell a third of the company to Kagiso. As an integral part of the transaction, Santam has acquired the Nova Group.

The Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition on Friday said that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel should get his facts and figures straight. The coalition was responding to the remarks made on Thursday that it will cost the country an estimated R90-billion per year to provide an income grant to all South Africans as a means of poverty alleviation.

The trade union Solidarity on Wednesday said it is to ask mining group Kumba Resources to impose a two-year moratorium on retrenchments. The trade union claimed that Kumba is persisting with the retrenchment of 400 workers in spite of a very profitable financial year. The request will form part of Solidarity’s Save the Workers campaign.

Proudfoot Consulting on Wednesday became the first international management consulting group in South Africa to sell equity to black economic empowerment (BEE) investors. The group said direct empowerment through BEE ownership will provide a competitive advantage for international firms.

After a number of accidents at its operational plants, dual-listed fuel and chemicals group Sasol on Wednesday declared safety "a top priority" for 2005. Sasol CEO Pieter Cox addressed the media in Johannesburg, saying that there is no greater priority in the company than safety. He added that the group has a zero-tolerance approach to unsafe behaviour.

The National Union of Mineworkers and trade union Solidarity on Tuesday welcomed the appointment of Lazarus Zim as chief executive officer of global resources group Anglo American’s South African operations.

In its submission to the committee that facilitates negotiations on black economic empowerment (BEE), Agri South Africa on Monday stated that its members support the objectives of BEE and are already promoting it in practice, but that the organisation differs essentially with official BEE proposals that were published last year for comment.

Nissan Diesel South Africa on Tuesday announced the appointment of two South African directors to its board — the first time that the Nissan Diesel Motor Corporation has appointed local staff on the board of directors at any of its subsidiaries in the world.

Employment opportunities for matrics are looking considerably more favourable than they did last year, trade union Solidarity said in a statement on Monday. The findings of a study carried out by Solidarity show that about 60% of job hunters in 2005 should find employment within the next 12 months.

Collective bargaining will pose a great challenge in 2005 for the Department of Labour, especially for marginalised small businesses, which are being crushed by big business, according to the Minister Membathisi Mdladlana. He said that there was a problem in the bargaining process because decisions on salaries and wages were taken without the participation of certain groups.

Motor trade sales for August rose by 25,5% year-on-year (y/y) to R15,361-billion, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. For the three months ended August, motor trade sales increased by 21,2% compared with the same period in 2003. The seasonally adjusted motor trade sales for the three months ended August 2004 increased by 10,2%.

South African Airways (SAA) deputy chief executive Oyama Mabandla has resigned from his position. Mabandla said he will be pursuing his own business interests to take advantage of the economic tide that is sweeping the country as a result of the success of democracy.

The board of listed passenger transport company Putco on Thursday said it is of the opinion that the offer by Hosken Consolidated Investment (HCI) to buy it out is defective. The company added that the offer does not comply with the Securities Regulation Code on Take-Overs and Mergers.

Anglo American plc and its South African subsidiary Kumba Resources on Wednesday announced that Anglo Coal Australia and Kumba Australia have signed a heads of agreement that could lead to the development of a major coking coal mine in central Queensland, Australia.