South Africa Oil Companies Improve Pay Offer to Try End Strike, Union Says

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and
other oil refiners in South Africa improved their wage offer to
local workers in a bid to end a strike that has led to fuel
shortages in Africa's largest economy.

``We can't say yet what the improvement is,'' Welile
Nolingo, secretary-general of the Chemical, Energy, Paper,
Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (CEPPWAWU) said by phone
from Johannesburg today. ``We're still negotiating.''


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

S.Africa's c.bank casts doubt on maize for ethanol

(Reuters) - South Africa's central bank chief Tito Mboweni has questioned the wisdom of using maize as a source for ethanol, saying global trends have shown this would push up prices of the staple food.

"It seems that we in South Africa think that we are going to produce ethanol from maize," Mboweni said at a dinner.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Rand softer vs dollar as risk aversion weighs

(Reuters) - South Africa's rand was weaker against the dollar in late Friday trade -- giving up its earlier gains -- as the greenback's own softness against the yen brought risky-asset jitters back to the fore.

At around 1510 GMT, the rand was trading at 7.1135 against the dollar, down 0.33 percent from New York's Thursday close of 7.09, having earlier strengthened to 7.0360 as some market players liquidated long dollar positions.


Read more at Reuters Africa

S.Africa Telkom gets ok from regulator on price cuts

(Reuters) - South Africa's communications regulator has approved fixed-line operator Telkom's plans to drop its prices by 1.2 percent overall, the firm said on Tuesday.

Telkom -- which has been under pressure from government to lower telecoms costs that are among the highest globally -- filed its price changes last month with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).


Read more at Reuters Africa

Barloworld to spin off, list coatings unit

(Reuters) - South African industrial group Barloworld will list its coatings unit on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange before the end of 2007, it said on Tuesday.

Barloworld, which markets Caterpillar earth-moving machines and Avis car hire, has said it plans to focus on its equipment, motor, materials handling and logistics divisions, and is disposing of its other units.


Read more at Reuters Africa

S.African stock market boosted by miners, banks

(Reuters) - South Africa's blue chip top-40 index rose over 1.7 percent on Monday, boosted by resource and banking stocks in late afternoon trade.

At 1452 GMT, the blue-chip index was 1.6 percent stronger, with heavyweight miners Anglo American up 2.07 percent to 402.40 rand and BHP Billiton 3.75 percent higher at 203.60 rand.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Importers help push rand weaker

(Reuters) - South Africa's rand weakened to a new one-month low against the dollar on Monday, pushed down mostly by heightened importer demand during the morning session, traders said.

At 1520 GMT the domestic unit was trading at 7.1475 versus the dollar, down 0.5 percent from Friday's New York close of 7.1125, but well off the session's softest level of 7.1999 -- its weakest mark since June 27, according to Reuters data.


Read more at Reuters Africa

S.African stocks up as miners, financials recover

(Reuters) - South African stocks pushed more than 1 percent higher on Monday as miners and financials recovered from last week's bruising.

Heavily-weighted miner Anglo American, which slid more than 5 percent on Friday, gained 1.14 percent while peer BHP Billiton jumped 2.15 percent.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Tongaat-Hulett says H1 headline loss R155 mln

(Reuters) - South African sugar group Tongaat Hullet posted a first-half headline loss of 145.1 cents per share, the firm said on Monday.

The group, which said on July 27 it expected the headline loss, said profit from operations was 308 million rand compared to 307 million rand in the year-ago period.


Read more at Reuters Africa

JSE bourse sees share issue hitting H1 EPS

(Reuters) - South Africa's JSE bourse operator expects to post a 59-67 percent drop in first-half headline earnings per share due to the issue of shares and options to black investors and a one-off gain the previous year.

The JSE said in a statement it expected EPS in the six months to end June to fall 53-61 percent, while revenue was expected to rise 27-35 percent.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Mozambique rail firm keen to cut Spoornet wagon link

(Reuters) - Mozambique's state-run railway company said on Friday it was investing $30 million to upgrade its commercial fleet in a move to cut $100 million in wagon hiring fees charged by South African rail freight firm Spoornet.

CFM, which operates the African nation's railways and ports, plans to refurbish 820 refurbished wagons with the investment, more than doubling the current number that travel lines to South Africa and Zimbabwe, spokesman Antonio Libombo said.


Read more at Reuters Africa

S.African stocks tumble to 3-week low, miners hit

(Reuters) - South African blue-chip stocks tumbled as much as 2.2 percent to their lowest level in more than three weeks as softer metal prices hit mining stocks and weaker global equities hurt broader sentiment.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks fell 1.98 percent to 25,809.55 points -- its lowest level since July 2. The Johannesburg All-share index slid 1.88 percent to 28,559.50 points.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Mr Price Q1 sales up 28 pct, sees slower growth

(Reuters) - South African fashion and homeware retailer Mr Price posted a 27.6 percent rise in first-quarter sales on Thursday but said sales growth for the rest of the year would be "more challenging".

The company said like for like sales stripping out the impact of new stores increased 10.9 percent in the quarter to end June.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Rand, bonds dive in emerging market sell-off

(Reuters) - South Africa's rand fell sharply on Thursday, caught up in a battering of global equities and emerging market currencies.

The local unit was trading at 7.0350 at 1530 GMT, a fall of 2.2 percent from its close in New York of 6.8825, but just off the session trough of 7.04 -- a two-week low.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Nedbank falls 3 pct as M&A talk wanes

(Reuters) - Shares in South Africa's fourth-biggest banking group Nedbank fell as much as 3 per cent on Tuesday as takeover talk around the group faded, traders said.

At 1253 GMT Nedbank shares were down 2.6 percent at 140 rand, having earlier hit 139.51 rand, underperforming the JSE Securities Exchange's banking sector which was 0.7 percent weaker.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Exxaro sees H1 headline EPS 232-258 cents

(Reuters) - South African black-owned miner Exxaro Rersources expects to report first-half attributable and headline earnings per share of between 232 and 258 cents, the company said on Tuesday.

The company could not provide comparable figures because Exxaro was listed in November after it was spun off from Kumba Resources and merged with unlisted Eyesizwe Coal to form the country's biggest diversified black-owned mining firm.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Standard Bank starts offer for Nigerian IBTC

(Reuters) - South Africa's Standard Bank launched a tender offer on Monday for shares in Nigerian investment bank IBTC Chartered Bank Plc which has agreed to merge with Standard's Nigerian unit Stanbic.

Standard Bank, Africa's top banking group by assets, said last week it had raised its offer price to 16 naira (12 U.S. cents) per share from 11.74 naira. It said the offer was now worth approximately $400 million.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Absa sees H1 headline EPS up 22-27 pct

(Reuters) - South Africa's biggest retail lender Absa expected first-half headline earnings per share to rise by as much as 27 percent, the group said on Monday.

Absa, majority owned by Britain's Barclays Plc, said in a trading statement that headline EPS and earnings per share for the six months to end June will rise between 22-27 percent.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Angloplat says union never filed wage dispute

(Reuters) - The world's biggest platinum producer Angloplat will hold further wage talks with South Africa's biggest mining union next week after it did not file a dispute as expected, spokesman Simon Tebele told Reuters.

The National Union of Mineworkers Secretary General Oupa Komane said it had agreed to further bilateral talks after receiving an invitation from the company. A dispute is the first legal step towards going on strike.


Read more at Reuters Africa

S.Africa's SABC starts Africa channel amid bias furore

(Reuters) - South Africa's public broadcaster is launching an international news channel to compete with CNN and the BBC, joining the growing ranks of news outlets seeking to challenge media stereotypes about Africa.

But media watchdogs say the South African Broadcasting Corp should focus on bolstering editorial independence at home after charges of political meddling harmed its credibility and revived memories of its days as a propaganda machine for apartheid.


Read more at Reuters Africa