Nedbank lifts H1 headline EPS by 34 pct

(Reuters) - South African banking firm Nedbank Group increased first-half headline earnings per share by 34 percent as loans and advances increased, but it said on Monday bad loans were rising.

Nedbank, majority-owned by insurer Old Mutual, said headline EPS were 700 cents, while headline earnings for the six months to end-June increased to 2.775 billion rand.


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Johncom rejigs management after M-Net sale

(Reuters) - South African media firm Johnnic Communications has rejigged management as it focuses on expanding its media and entertainment business after selling its stake in pay-TV channels M-Net and Supersport.

Johncom said in a statement on Monday the restructuring would help the company sharpen its focus as it expands its core media and entertainment business. The firm said last year it was selling its stake in M-Net and Supersport to Naspers.


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Angola building hotels as oil boom fuels demand

(Reuters) - Booming Angola is building dozens of hotels and guesthouses to meet rising demand that has pushed the price of a room in the capital Luanda to $250 per night, the country's tourism minister said on Friday.

The southwestern African state also needs thousands of new hotel rooms to accommodate visitors to an international diamond summit in 2009 and the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament, which it will host in 2010. About 2,000 people have already registered for the summit.


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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 created through a black empowerment deal at the end of 2006.


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Aquarius contractor fires 3,000 striking workers

(Reuters) - More than 3,000 striking workers at two South African mines owned by platinum miner Aquarius Platinum have been dismissed, the firm said on Thursday.

The strike stemmed from demands for a bonus made by employees and followed the dismissal of 108 load-haul dumper operators in May. The rest of the contractor workforce went on a sympathy strike.


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Standard Chartered eyes S.Africa's Nedbank -report

(Reuters) - The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said Asia-focused Standard Chartered had been in discussions with Nedbank for some time.



Business Day quoted Standard Chartered South Africa Chief Executive Officer Christopher Low as saying the country was core to the group's strategy to expand its African business.


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S.Africa maize deliveries at 4.257 mln T, boost price

(Reuters) - South African farmers have so far delivered 4.275 million tonnes of maize, data showed on Wednesday as the market rose on supply nerves generated by a gap between these figures and the official crop forecast.

White maize deliveries from South African farms rose to 2.682 million tonnes in the week to July 13 from 2.487 million, the South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS) said on its website shortly after the market closed.


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S.African stocks weaker, led by resource shares

(Reuters) - South African shares closed weaker for the second straight day on Tuesday, led south by a slump in platinum shares following on a poor trading statement from miner Lonmin and losses by heavyweight miners Anglo American and BHP Billiton.

"Anglo and BHP were down and platinum shares as well because of Lonmin's production update. The market seems to be reading Lonmin's negative update as the outlook for the entire sector as well," a Johannesburg-based trader said.


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Impala Platinum Pay Talks With Union Fail, State Mediation Is Sought

(Bloomberg) -- Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd.'s pay
talks with a South African labor union failed after workers
refused to accept a two-year agreement offered by the company, a
union official said. State mediation will now be sought.

While willing to accept Impala's offer to boost pay 8
percent to 10 percent this year, workers were unhappy with the
offer for a 7 percent to 8 percent raise next year depending on
job grade, Eddie Majadibodu, a negotiator for the National Union
of Mineworkers, said today in an interview from Rustenburg,
northwest of Johannesburg.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Sugar Rises as Crude Oil Rally May Boost Demand for Brazil's Cane Ethanol

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar in New York rose to the highest
in more than a week on speculation that rising crude oil prices
will increase demand for ethanol, the gasoline substitute made
from sugar cane.

Crude oil reached a 10-month high of $72.94 a barrel today
on speculation unrest in Nigeria, the biggest African producer,
may disrupt supplies. Mills in Brazil, the world's largest sugar
producer, are using more than half the country's cane crop to
make fuel instead of sweetener.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

S.Africa 3-month T-bill discount rate flat at 9.1 pct

(Reuters) - The average discount rate for South African three-month Treasury Bills was steady at 9.10 percent on Friday, as was the average yield at 9.31 percent, the Reserve Bank said.

Applications for the 2.3 billion rand of bills on offer totalled 6.044 billion rand.


Read more at Reuters Africa

South African Stocks Advance, Paced by Anglo American and Impala Platinum

(Bloomberg) -- South African shares rose for a second
day. Anglo American Plc and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. led the
gain as the prices of metals including copper, nickel and
platinum advanced.

The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index added 183.30, or 0.6
percent, to 28,886.43 at 10:22 a.m. in Johannesburg, as four
stocks rose for each one that fell.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

UPDATE 1-S.Africa ANC opens door for Mbeki to remain leader

(Reuters) - MIDRAND, South Africa, June 29 - South Africa's
ruling African National Congress said on Friday it favoured
keeping the current rules for electing the party's leader,
opening the door for President Thabo Mbeki to seek a third term.




"There is no need to change the current procedures," ANC
General Secretary Kgalema Motlanthe told reporters after about
1,500 activists met outside Johannesburg to discuss the party's
policies and the process to elect a leader in December.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Barloworld executive quits after appointment seen racist

(Reuters) - The white deputy chairman of South African industrial group Barloworld Ltd resigned on Thursday after a state-owned major investor labelled his appointment as "racist".

Earlier this year Barloworld came under fire by the government's Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which has a 17 percent stake in the group, for having no black executive directors.


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Kenya unveils Novozymes deal, warns bio-pirates

(Reuters) - Kenya unveiled a biotechnology research agreement with the world's top industrial enzymes maker Novozymes on Thursday and vowed to tackle bio-pirates it accuses of plundering its rich natural resources.

Enzymes developed from rare microbes in the east African nation's Rift Valley soda lakes are a key ingredient of products ranging from detergent to animal feed and are also used for bleaching faded denim jeans.


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South African Inflation Exceeded the Target Range for Second Month in May

(Bloomberg) -- South African inflation accelerated to
an annual 6.4 percent in May, exceeding the central bank's 3
percent to 6 percent target range for a second consecutive month,
increasing speculation of more interest rate increases.

The CPIX inflation rate, which excludes mortgage costs, rose
from 6.3 percent in April, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa
said today. Inflation was expected to be unchanged, according to
the median estimate of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Prices
rose 0.6 percent in the month.


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Firstrand raised $699 mln in Euro bond issue

(Reuters) - South African banking and financial services group FirstRand has raised 5 billion rand through its euro medium term notes (EMTN) programme from European capital markets, it said on Monday.

FirstRand said the issue was placed with 41 investors in 16 different countries and priced 50 basis points over the euro three month rate.


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BP Will Share Oil, Gas Discoveries With Libya, National Oil's Ghanem Says

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest
petroleum company, and the Libyan government will share any oil
fields BP may find under an exploration accord signed with the
North African nation last month, a Libyan official said.

The agreement was initially announced as a ``natural-gas
cooperation accord'' during British Prime Minister Tony Blair's
visit to Libya on May 29. London-based BP committed to spend at
least $900 million on exploration works in offshore and onshore
plots that cover a total of 54,000 square kilometers (20,850
square miles), about the size of West Virginia.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UK's Gateway muscles into Kenyan pay-TV market

(Reuters) - London-based Gateway Communications, a satellite and telecoms group, will next month beam its new pay-TV service into Kenya and plans to woo customers with one month's free subscription.

But Gateway, which is hoping to rival Africa's largest media company, Naspers, with a pan-African service, said on Wednesday that customers in the world's poorest continent would still pay at least $226 for a satellite dish and decoder and $26 per month to get its new 15-channel GTV service -- for now.


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South Africa Increases State Workers' Pay Offer, Strikers Given Deadline

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa's government offered to
pay its 1.1 million state employees an average wage increase of
7.5 percent and improve their housing benefits in a bid to end a
strike that began June 1.

The government has given unions until 6 p.m. local time to
accept the package or will revert to its previous offer of 7.25
percent, union negotiator Chris Klopper told the South African
Broadcasting Corp. today.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News