Mines output rises as factories slip
SOUTH Africa’s mining production rose for the first time in three months in April as higher iron-ore output made up for a decline in platinum. Total mining production climbed 0.2% from a year earlier, according to Stats SA.
DIVERSIFIED financial services company Alexander Forbes said it delivered a “strong performance” for the year to March with revenue from continuing operations increasing 18% to R4.4-billion.
PETROCHEMICAL giant Sasol said this week that it expected an overall strong performance for financial 2014, with synfuels volumes expected to be between 7.3 million and 7.5 million tons.
OFFSHORE accounts bought more than R2billion in South African shares and R6.2-billion in South African bonds in the week to June 6, according to data from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
A 5.58% surge in SABMiller’s share price took it past the R1-trillion market cap mark for the first time on Tuesday. The only other JSE company with a market cap over R1-trillion is another “sin stock”‚ British American Tobacco.
SOUTH Africa’s manufacturing output fell 1.5% year on year in volume terms in April following a revised 1% expansion in March, but on a month-on-month basis factory production increased 3.5%, said Stats SA.
THE RMB/BER business confidence index was unchanged at 41 points in the second quarter of the year, indicating that the majority of companies were still unhappy about operating conditions.
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) may cut South Africa’s growth forecast for 2014 to about 2% or less after its longest mining strike caused the economy to contract, local IMF representative Nasha Mavee said.
THE seasonally adjusted trade activity index, which indicates sentiment on current trading conditions‚ rose by just one point to 50 last month, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.
TOYOTA SA is recalling 4 000 Corollas to replace faulty inflators that could cause air bags to “deploy abnormally” in a crash. The affected cars were built from April 2002 to June 2004.