SERVICES NEWS

Johannesburg - The Johannesburg Stock Exchange said it will pause trade for five minutes at 11am (09h00 GMT) on Friday to mark the passing of former president Nelson Mandela.  read more

SIMONIS Storm Securities expect inflation to hover above 6,5% next year based on a lower base this year but additionally based on the price movements in key categories.  read more

Ottawa - BlackBerry's new chief executive cast off persistent talk of the smartphone maker's demise, vowing on Monday that the company would pick itself back up and was "here to stay". read more

Johannesburg - South African yellow-corn futures rose to the highest level in more than 15 months in Johannesburg trading. read more

Johannesburg - A Chilean group's $1.2bn (R12.6bn) bid for drugmaker Adcock Ingram [JSE:AIP] was challenged on two fronts on Monday, as a group led by Bidvest [JSE:BVT] sought nearly a third of Adcock's shares and launched a court action against the bid. read more

South Africa has jumped one position in its global web standing, ranking 35th overall out of 81 countries in an index which measures the use, utility and impact of the web on the world’s people and nations. read more

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney will no longer be included on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.  read more

Johannesburg - Shares of South Africa's RCL Foods fell 1.6 percent on Friday, a day after the company said it would issue $394 million in stock to acquire two sugar businesses from its top shareholder Remgro Ltd. read more

Value fashion retailer, Mr Price has taken its homeware division, Mr Price Home online. Mr Price Apparel launched its online sales platform in South Africa in July 2012 and internationally in July 2013. read more

Johannesburg - The first interest rate hiking by the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) will most likely only be in 2015, according to John Loos, FNB's household and property sector strategist. read more

Johannesburg - South African soybean futures declined the most in almost seven weeks. The oilseed for delivery in December, the most active contract, fell 1.8 percent, the biggest decline since October 1, to 6,250 rand ($619) a metric ton by the noon close on the South African Futures Exchange in Johannesburg.  read more

Agriculture and Livestock Minister Bob Sichinga has disclosed that Zambia was on a strong position in terms of food security in the African region. read more

Eskom has declared an electricity supply emergency, and is urging customers to severely curtail usage from Tuesday (19 November) onwards. read more

Johannesburg - The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) will probably keep interest rates steady when it ends its final policy meeting of the year this week and is likely to stay on hold until at least late 2014, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. read more

Johannesburg - The value of debit card fraud losses decreased by 42 percent between January and September this year compared to the same period last year, the SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) said on Monday.  read more

Shares of Illovo Sugar fall more than 2 percent after the South African company says tough market conditions are likely to negatively impact its full-year earnings. read more

The South African wool market held on to last week’s gains and remained steady for this week, Cape Wools said on Wednesday. read more

A new deal between MTN and Visa will enable MTN Mobile Money users to make face-to-face and online transactions wherever Visa is accepted.  read more

BlackBerry Ltd’s board does not believe a break-up of the Canadian smartphone maker is currently in its best interests, even though Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd, among others, have expressed interest in acquiring parts of the company, according to people familiar with the discussions. read more

Cape Town - The permanent employment sector in SA has seen modest gains for the first time in 15 months, according to the latest Adcorp Employment Index.  read more

Clothing retailer, Woolworths Kenya has signed an agreement with consumer finance firm afb allowing its customers to buy goods on credit to be repaid in six months.  read more

Atterbury Property Developments’ Waterfall Business Estate is poised to become one of the strongest and most successful nodes within the Gauteng market and in South Africa.  read more

The annual rate of inflation for the month of October 2013 has reduced to 6.9% compared to 7.0% recorded in September 2013.  read more

BlackBerry is abandoning a plan to sell itself and instead will replace its chief executive officer and raise about $1 billion from institutional investors, including its largest shareholder, the smartphone maker said on Monday.  read more

South African consumers are the second most satisfied in the world, according to the South African Consumer Satisfaction Index (Sacsi), with MTN and Apple appealing most in the ICT space.  read more

Johannesburg - Woolworths had signed a deal to regain 100 percent control of its previously franchised stores in four African countries, the high-end retailer has said.  read more

FNB reports that monthly non-cash purchases by customers in its consumer segment have surpassed cash withdrawals at its ATMs by R800 million.  read more

Johannesburg - South Africa's HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 51.5 in October from 49.8 in September, its biggest expansion in 10 months as producers recovered from labour strikes, a survey showed on Tuesday. read more

Cape Town - Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies insisted on Tuesday that stricter affordability testing was the industry's answer to objections about the removal of adverse credit information. read more

Sugar importers have asked for two weeks to discuss the new regulations that are to be introduced by the Kenya Sugar Board to regulate the market.  read more

London - Diageo, the world's biggest spirits group which has a presence in SA, should see sales growth in Africa accelerate as it expands into new markets like Ethiopia and Angola and as rising incomes enable traditional beer drinkers to try spirits, it has said read more

Johannesburg - Corn futures in South Africa rose to the highest levels in more than four months by the midday close in Johannesburg.  read more

Ghana has been voted the Vice Chairman of the Union of African Shippers Council (UASC) for the first time in the history of the organisation. read more

THE Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF) is scouting for US$21 million to set up milling plants in 25 districts. read more

New York - US stocks resumed their upward move on Thursday as economic data underscored views US monetary stimulus will be in place for the foreseeable future and as earnings offered some upbeat news. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa’s inflation rate fell from the highest level in four years to 6 percent in September.  read more

Port Elizabeth - The South African wool market ended softer this week, Cape Wools said on Wednesday. read more

Hong Kong - Asian markets mostly rose on Monday, with sentiment buoyed by last week's deal in Washington to avert a default as well as a record close on Wall Street. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa has endorsed a trade deal with Poland, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has said read more

Washington - The US debt jumped above $17 trillion for the first time in history, the Treasury Department has said.  read more

Meat processing companies, Meatco and Witvlei Meat, have once again bid for the lucrative beef export quota to Norway, which is set at 1600 tonnes per year and pays 72% more than exports to other parts of Europe. Earlier this month, the Meat Board of Namibia requested for bids for the Norway quota from local meat companies.  read more

Johannesburg - Food manufacturer Pioneer Foods [JSE:PFG] is cutting jobs as part of a restructuring process to reduce costs in the face of constrained consumer spending, its chief executive has said.  read more

Johannesburg - The softer global economy and weak domestic business and household confidence are expected to keep South African GDP growth at 2.0% this year with a marginal pick-up to 2.8% in 2014. read more

Johannesburg - Markets across the world on Thursday gave a lukewarm reaction towards the US debt deal, due to fears that the scenario will repeat itself early next year. read more

Ghana has been ranked as the fourth country in Africa with the highest public debt in relation the total value of the economy.  read more

Zambia’s domestic and external debt for the year 2013 is projected to reach 37 percent of the country’s GDP. read more

The Namibian Competition Commission has given its blessings to the deal in which Oryx Properties was seeking permission to acquire the Gustav Voigts Centre from Growthpoint Properties. read more

When Facebook Inc was preparing to go public last year, the telephones at Granite Investment Advisors rang off the hook as clients called about the social media’s company’s highly anticipated debut. 

A shareholder of BlackBerry Ltd sued the company and its executives on Friday, accusing them of inflating the stock price by painting a misleadingly rosy picture of the business prospects of its BlackBerry 10 smartphone line. read more

Last week’s Nairobi’s Westgate Mall attacks had hammered Kenya’s general retailer, Nakumatt, one of Africa’s most home-based business triumphs, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).  read more

Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL), has appointed Mr Eric Otoo as the 'Route to Consumer' (RtC) Director in line with the company's vision of dominating the beverage industry in the country.  read more

Johannesburg - South African clothing retail outlets have scored a customer satisfaction rating of 82 out of 100 according to the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi). read more

Johannesburg - The purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to an eight-month low in September as a strike in the auto sector hurt new sales orders, suggesting a slowdown in the manufacturing sector, survey showed on Tuesday.  read more

Cape Town - Climate change poses a major threat to South Africa's maize production and food security, says the Agricultural Research Council. read more

Lusaka - Blackstar Group SE, an investment company, said it will join other shareholders in fighting Shoprite Holdings Ltd.’s attempts to reverse trades in the retailer’s stock in Zambia. read more

Chase Bank (K) Limited, Naivas Supermarket and Visa have announced a partnership to launch a secure prepaid card for shopping convenience in Kenya, featuring the latest chip-based technology to cut the risk of fraud. read more

Edgars Stores Limited after-tax profit for the 26 weeks ended July 6 was up 17% to $1,1 million, buoyed by growth in revenue.  read more

Johannesburg - The North West province on Wednesday declared there was a drought across its whole territory, an important maize growing region. read more

The latest second quarter GDP report released by the Namibia Statistics Agency shows that the economy recorded a slow growth of 2,3% in the second quarter of this year compared to an increase of 12,3% in the same period last year.  read more

Consumer spending on Internet access in South Africa will reach approximately R59.6 billion by 2017, up from R19.8 billion in 2012 – a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.7%. read more

Abuja - Nigeria's year-on-year consumer inflation fell to 8.2% in August, lower than July's 8.7% figure, the statistics bureau said on Tuesday, and touching a new 5-year low. read more

The average change in prices of goods and services in the country, measured by inflation, dropped to 11.5 per cent in August after registering a consistent rise since January, this year. read more

A new report highlights the intensified use of social media by South African corporations, with Facebook winning out amongst the big players in the sector. read more

Johannesburg - Manufacturing output increased by 5.4% year-on-year in volume terms in July from a revised 0.5% in June, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. read more

New research has revealed the tremendous growth in active users on social networks in South Africa over the past year.  read more

The environment for doing business in Ghana in 2012 was far better than this year; that is according to the Executive Opinion and Global Competitiveness Report.  read more

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Zambia as one of the top 10 most competitive economies in Africa for 2013. read more

Oryx Properties, the Namibia Stock Exchange listed property investment company, declared a distribution of 72, 25 cents per linked unit for the six months to 30 June 2013, the company said on Friday. This is a 9,1% improvement over the 66,25 cents per unit declared for the comparative period. The total distribution to unit holders for the year amounts to 139,50 cents per unit, a nine percent increase over the 2012 financial year.  read more

The African mobile telecom market is forecast to grow from a combined value of over US$60 billion in 2013, to a value in 2020 of almost US$234 billion – with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.27%. read more

The International Monetery Fund(IMF) has weighed into the long-running debate on high household debt, warning that commercial bank's level of exposure to this was a "significant source of vulnerability".  read more

The Bank of Namibia has released its selected monthly statistics for June. The statistics show that total Namibian debt (comprising domestic and foreign government, corporate and household debt) grew by 1.19% during June to N$80.64 billion. This represents an annual growth rate of 10.15%, slightly lower than the growth recorded in May of 10,2%.  read more

Mealie meal prices have continued to rise in most parts of Western Province with Sikongo having the highest cost of K90 per 25kg bag of breakfast and K85 roller meal.  read more

Huawei, the Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company, has appointed Wilson Liu as the new CEO for its South African operations.  read more

Highlights • Turnover up 23.2% • Profit before tax up 27.1% • Headline earnings per share up 27.3% (52 weeks: 25.3%) • Return on equity up from 46.4% to 49.7% • Cash dividend of 148 cents declared  read more

August 28, 2013 - In response to increasing client requirements, Mérieux NutriSciences through its Swift Silliker subsidiary, announced the launch of a new chemistry laboratory in Midrand, Johannesburg, today. After 22 years as a market leader in microbiological testing in South Africa, this marks the beginning of a new era for Swift Silliker. The launch of this laboratory directly answers growing customer demand for chemistry testing, broadening the scope of services offered by Swift Silliker to provide food clients with one-stop services. read more

Durban, 27 August 2013: RCL Foods Limited, formerly known as Rainbow Chicken Limited, yesterday issued its results for the year ended 30 June 2013. read more

Bloemfontein - The expansion of South Africa’s middle class bodes well for milk producers, SA Milk Producers' Organisation CEO Bertus de Jongh said on Tuesday. read more

A Tanzanian firm has indicated its intention to set up a cotton ginnery in Zambia to provide a ready market for small-scale cotton growers in the country. read more

Johannesburg - A wage settlement for SA Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) members with clothing sector employers could be expected soon, the union has said. read more

Microsoft (23 August 2013) announced that CEO Steve Ballmer has decided to retire within the next 12 months, upon the completion of a process to choose his successor. read more

Ovum estimates that the number of smartphones in emerging markets will reach nearly 50% by 2017, which translates to over two billion devices. read more

Hewlett-Packard Co is back in the market for acquisitions of up to $1.5 billion, Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in a televised interview on Thursday, aiming for smaller deals after a flurry of outsized purchases in past years.  read more

Frankfurt - Germany, Europe's second-biggest grain producer after France, reported a 3.0% increase in its harvest this year, despite the bad weather and flooding, data showed on Thursday. read more

Johannesburg - A newly introduced digital customs management system at border posts would be positive for business and trade, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday. read more

Johannesburg, 21 August 2013 – Imperial increased its revenue in its logistics businesses to R34 billion for the financial year ending 30 June 2013, achieving 21% growth. The European and African Divisions contributed almost equally, with revenue from African countries outside South Africa contributing almost 15% to total revenue. read more

Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Minister Yamfwa Mukanga has launched the Lusaka 400 kilometers road project. read more

In order to diversify its product offering, Kuiseb Trading, a subsidiary of Kuiseb Fishing Enterprises recently launched a range of soup products that are sold in local supermarkets.  read more

Cisco’s Visual Networking Index projects that there will be more than 133 million network connections in South Africa by 2017.  read more

Windhoek - In a first for Namibia's banking industry a commercial bank has teamed up with a major retailer to enable the bank's clients to withdraw money at the retailer's cashiers as they are doing their grocery shopping.  read more

About 65,000 kg of contaminated Zambeef products that were confiscated from the northern region were disposed of this week in Kitwe by burning them.  read more

Nestlé, the world's biggest food group, missed first-half sales forecasts and trimmed its 2013 target on Thursday, after it cut prices in Europe in a bid to lure recession-hit shoppers.  read more

Ten fishing companies have been fined $3.1 million for illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) in the country’s waters and in breach of Ghana’s fishing regulations.  read more

Johannesburg - Actis LLP, a London-based private-equity firm, has proposed an offer for Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd. to rival a bid from Chilean drugmaker CFR Pharmaceuticals SA, two people familiar with the matter said.  read more

Johannesburg - Trade conditions remained positive in July, despite volatility on a month-to-month basis, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Tuesday.  read more

Zambia’s economic outlook will remain favourable in the second half of 2013 due to continued strong domestic investments in key productive sectors. read more

A new index reveals that South Africa is ranked fourth when it comes to academics attracting money from businesses to carry out work in innovation and research. read more

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings has selected HighJump Software, a global provider of supply chain management software, to help the company manage its distribution network. read more

Oryx properties, the NSX listed property investment company, has added the Gustav Voigts Centre to its portfolio after acquiring Growthpoint’s 100% shareholding in Tuinweg Property Investments. read more

New research conducted in the US finds that mobile-TV viewers are more focused on TV content when viewed on their smartphones than on larger devices. read more

New York - Microsoft on Monday knocked $100 off the price of high end versions of its Surface tablet, which is competing against Apple's iPad and devices that use Google's Android system. read more