This section houses interviews conducted by Biznews, both video and audio, and other interesting inputs sourced from Third Parties.
A while back, Woolworths announced that it would be making a bid for high-end Australian retail chain David Jones. The deal is a fairly promising one for Woolies, which has done good things with the Australian lifestyle brand it previously purchased, Country Road. However, there are quite a few obstacles to overcome before the deal … Read more
Funny how life works out. During his days as trade unionist, South Africa’s new Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene reputedly organised the first ever strike in the country’s financial sector. Now he has to deal directly with consequences of a platinum mining strike whose knock-on effect hampers Treasury’s ability to meet commitments without increased borrowing or … Read more
The impending Security Industry amendment bill contains a number of problematic clauses. It requires all private security companies operating in South Africa to sell a 51% stake to South African citizens, for example, a provision that seems very difficult to comply with and very anti-investment. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) seems … Read more
The economics of the World Cup have always been a little dubious for the host country. While FIFA reliably makes its billions, many host countries find that the fabled rewards for hosting fail to materialise. Tourism numbers are lower than hoped for, the demand for hotels fails to hit the expected peaks, and most commonly, … Read more
One of the mysteries of the South African economies is that it really struggles to generate entrepreneurs, people who take the plunge and start small businesses that, over time, grow to be large ones. This is a pity, because around the world, small businesses are crucial to economic growth and, most importantly, to employment. Small … Read more
Vunani’s Gary Booysen is always a source of great market related information. He was today’s market commentator on CNBC Africa Power Lunch – providing insight into how traders and investors might consider playing developments at Woolworths, Nampak, Ascendis, Wesizwe and PSG Konsult. – AH Â ALEC HOGG:Â We have Gary Booysen from Vunani Private Clients with … Read more
Right now, I think that Gill Marcus and her team have some of the toughest jobs out there. The South African economy is in quite a state. Inflation has breached the target, but GDP is shrinking. Strikes are paralysing the key mining sector, government spending is creating a substantial fiscal deficit, slack imports are generating … Read more
For as long as I can remember, people have been talking about the potential for Africa to become a major global food supplier. All the pieces of the puzzle are present – Africa has plenty of underdeveloped arable land, decent access to water (this varies geographically of course), and a lot of un or underemployed … Read more
In this interview, internet expert Andy Higgins makes an interesting point. He says, “If you look at other countries, you would see that at some point there’d be some talk about the hockey stick growth, the tipping point, or the knee of the curve. In my experience, that never happened in South Africa.” In other … Read more
An overwhelming amount of information has been made available to South Africa over the last few days, where we are seeing a deluge of numbers being reported, that all indicate a negative growth environment in our economy. Added to this is Zuma’s most recent State of the Nation Address, which focused on the country’s two … Read more