RELUCTANT BRIDE WON'T BUDGE
By Shoks Mzolo
It was only a matter of time before Cipla Medpro's top brass firmly rejected Adcock Ingram's buyout bid. Mumbai-based Cipla Ltd, Cipla Medpro's strategic partner, has said it will not even consider an offer. Cipla Ltd, the world's leading generi...

COLOSSUS IN THE MAKING
By Duncan McLeod
Could a mega acquisition be on the cards for Johannesburg-based emerging markets mobile telecom powerhouse MTN? One analyst polled by the FM feels it would make sense for the group to make a play for Cairo-based Orascom Telecom. But anoth...

INDEX CHANGES THE MARKET
By Ian Fife and Gabrielle de St Clair
SA's investment art market has a new source of price discovery similar to that of a stock exchange. Artvault.co.za's art sales data is available to subscribers on the Web. Its price index of about 25 000 sales since 1996 (see graph)...

THREAT OF LOWER RETURNS
By Andrew McNulty
SA has long had regulations governing the way retirement funds may invest on behalf of members. In recent years there has been a move towards socially responsible investing (SRI). Now there is talk of prescribed assets. What might t...

NO PAYOUTS CONSIDERED
By Rob Rose
Old Mutual CEO Julian Roberts slipped quietly into the back row of Mutual & Federal's (M&F) AGM last week, and seemed bemused by the volley of questions directed at the short-term insurer. It was an odd visit, as he's not on M&F's board and Old Mu...

REAPING AN EARLY HARVEST
By Sasha Planting
A recent trading update from Pioneer Foods shows how susceptible the company is to commodity price fluctuations. Pioneer, which produces a range of cereal products, reports that headline earnings per share (Heps) for the six months...

CHARGES PILING UP
By Shoks Mzolo
Better late than never. That probably sums up how Jacky Mathekga, who's just ended his five-year shift at the helm of Discovery medical aid, feels as his organisation has finally met the 25% statutory minimum solvency ratio. Accord...

CLICKS STILL ON SONG
By Sasha Planting
New Clicks' aggressive pursuit of its expansion strategy continues to deliver results, seemingly in defiance of the slowdown in the SA economy. In particular, it is continuing its programme of investing in in store pharmacies, now in its fifth y...

CRISIS WATCH
By Rob Rose
"Hallmark Day", or to use its traditional moniker, which pockmarks shop windows - Mother's Day - is a welcome casualty of the global recession. Not that matriarchs the world over deserve to be scorned, mind. But if the spending crunch ...

THE UGLY DUCKLING
By Larry Claasen
HARDWARE WAREHOUSE 1. Cash positive - yes 2. Revenue up - yes...

DIAMONDS & DOGS
Jamie Carr's picks of the week
Diamond - Pick n Pay It would take more than the worst global recession in living memory to get between the SA housewife and her weekly trip to Pick n Pay, and the retailer's results show the resilience of this d...

INVESTOR'S NOTEBOOK
By Stephen Cranston
There has been a huge fuss by hedge funds at new regulations which the EU is planning to impose on them. Certainly it would have been healthier if a rational system of regulation had been in place years ago. Instead regulators who did...