YELLOW OR GOLD CAKES?
By Brendan Ryan
The dual listing last week on the JSE of First Uranium Corp - the 67%-owned, Canadian-domiciled subsidiary of Simmer & Jack (Simmers) - should focus investors' minds on the value anomaly between the companies. Simmers is a gold ope...

IT'S BUSINESS AS USUAL
By Nicky Smith
Despite the finding by the Competition Tribunal that Mittal Steel SA has been charging excessive prices and abusing its dominant position, it is unlikely that steel prices will drop soon. Mittal CE Rick Reato has given no commitme...

HALFWAY THERE
By Nicky Smith
Mittal may lift capital expenditure in the next few years by a third, from R9bn to R12bn, according to CE Rick Reato. Last week the company started work on its R600m direct reduction kilns, to be completed in 20 months. The kilns...

NOT TOO LATE TO CARE
By Stephen Cranston
Chris Wells certainly got experience of dealing with losses when he was in the private sector. Now Transnet chief financial officer, he had to turn around Rainbow Chicken after it suffered from strikes and high fowl mortality, and t...

ACQUISITIONS PAY OFF
By Larry Claasen
The good news keeps on coming for technology company Faritec. Not only did it boost revenue by a healthy 82% to R472,5m for the half-year to December 2006, it is also on track to hit the R1bn revenue mark for the full year, says CEO Si...

LOADS OF VALUE TO PICK UP
By Stafford Thomas
Despite a spectacular profit recovery, Bell's 10% increase in turnover appears far from inspiring. The reality is that it signals the end of a profit-eroding export contract with US group John Deere (JD). Surging demand for mining a...

SA A WORLD-BEATER
By Ian Fife
There's a strong case for global investors to move to SA, based on our performance in 2006. That's the conclusion to be drawn from data released by international property benchmarking company IPD. SA commercial portfolios (at a tot...

SITTING ON THE FUTURE
By Brendan Ryan
Two junior mining and exploration companies are looking at coal projects on Mozambique's Moatize coal field, where giant Brazilian mining group CVRD has advanced plans for a major coal mine. If all three companies get their proje...

BID OFFERS BENEFITS
By Brendan Ryan
Patrice Motsepe's ARM has welcomed Xstrata's bid for Canadian-listed nickel group LionOre, because of the potential benefits that closer ties with Xstrata will bring for ARM's own nickel operations. LionOre and ARM are 50-50 part...

FOREIGN FRIES ON THE SIDE
By Chris Gilmour
The two largest quick-service and casual dining restaurant chains, Famous Brands (formerly Steers) and Spur Corp, are doing well and have both embarked on expansion in the rest of Africa and elsewhere. Until recently, both groups ...

WEATHERING THE STORM
By Stephen Cranston
The pictures of the KwaZulu Natal storms and equinox tides of March 15- 22 will prove to have been a lot more dramatic than the losses in the short-term insurance industry. There were vivid images of the road in Umdloti on the nor...

SA NEEDS A WAKE-UP
By Ian Fife
SA has some hard work ahead to become a favoured destination for global property investors, if its showing at the Mipim property conference in France in March is an indicator. (Mipim stands for Le Marché International des Professi...

INVESTMENT OF THE WEEK
By Stephen Cranston
Who it's for: As the name implies, it is for people looking for an equity portfolio with a high dividend yield. How risky: Prudential classifies it as a high-risk fund with an "aggressive" exposure to shares. But the portfo...

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES & TRUCKS
By Stafford Thomas
BELL EQUIPMENT Ord price R33,1...

BANKS
By Heather Formby
CAPITEC Ord price R36,80<...

HEAVY CONSTRUCTION
By Stafford Thomas
ELB GROUP Ord price R12,90...

COMPUTER SERVICES
By Stafford Thomas
EOH Ord price 750c

TECHNOLOGY
By Larry Claasen
FARITEC Ord price 1 30c

MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
By Duncan McLeod
MTN GROUP Ord price R98,65...

RESTAURANTS & BARS
By Chris Gilmour
SPUR Ord price R11

DIAMONDS & DOGS
By Jamie Carr
Diamond MTN Once upon a time the clubmen of St James's sank back into their leather armchairs with deep satisfaction as they watched the imperial mission turn the map of the world pink. Nowadays the cartographers are busy w...