Money Business

ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s major steel producers have bought Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) for R800m that will yet again put another twist in the competition for Kumba’s Sishen iron ore mine.

ArcelorMittal CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita said in a statement that, “whilst we continue to vigorously pursue our arbitration with Kumba Iron Ore Limited, we feel our acquisition of ICT is a prudent decision based on strong commercial grounds given that vertical integration is a crucial component of ArcelorMittal South Africa’s ability to remain competitive.”

The deal seems to be part of a greater BEE transaction which will put 26% of ArcelorMittal into the hands of the Ayigobi consortium as well as 8,500 ArcelorMittal employees.

Nyembezi-Heita said the shareholders of ICT have been included, “inter alia as participants in the Ayigobi consortium”.

That consortium is led by Sandile Zungu while its participants include Oakbay Investments – which is owned by the Gupta family – and Jagdish R Parekh who is a substantial shareholder in ICT.

Zungu, the Gupta family and Parekh are all believed to be very well connected politically to the present government.
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Construction and civil engineering group Sea Kay Holdings announced on Friday that it would be selling the entire issued share capitals of Silver Falcon and Seriso 474, trading as Sedibeng Bricks.

Sea Kay said it had entered into its disposal of Silver Falcon with the purchaser Mr C Kruger, and the Corne Kruger Family Trust (an associate of the purchaser) through its wholly owned subsidiary Sea Kay Engineering Services.

Sea Kay will sell Silver Falcon for R7.343m to be settled through a reduction in the loan account owed by Sea Kay Engineering to the trust, Sea Kay said.

The group said the entire issued share capital of Sedibeng would be sold to the purchaser (Sedibeng) for R10m, to be settled through a reduction in the loan account owed by Sea Kay Engineering to the trust.
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David Conradie, Director of Human Capital at Deloitte who is part of team that annually brings us the Best Company to Work For survey recently wrote and article about effective Talent Management during periods of growth and economic upturn.

David highlights 4 challenges to management in 2010 being:

1. Top talent is on the move
2. Employee satisfaction
3. Multi-generational workforce
4. Lack of structured leadership development

He concludes that Companies that achieve the best balance of offensive and defensive talent strategies will have the inside track on the recovery curve. Furthermore, a strong employer brand strategy that goes beyond recruitment campaigns and a desire to simply be seen as an employer of choice will be crucial if companies wish to engage and retain those employees who add the most value and organisational strength.

Developing high potential employees remains a priority, with more than 4 in ten executives expect to increase their programs aimed at training such employees and cultivating future corporate leaders. In light of these survey results, companies that have effective leadership programmes are more likely to establish developmental career paths, establish robust leadership pipelines and have higher workforce morale.

Clearly, the New Year brings a renewed imperative to grow and compete for both customers and talent while retaining and up-skilling critical talent. Now is the time to shift out of ‘survival mode’ and get proactive on your talent management strategy remembering that the upturn could be as rapid as the slide into recession, so organisations should not allow themselves to be caught off guard.

Visit Deloitte.com for more information – Best Company to Work For

Business Strategy is a topic that is becoming more and imperative for any business to survive in today’s day and age. Business strategies vary and so do the tools that are used for the creation of effective business strategies. One of the most important tools available to any manager is the SWOT Analysis which provides information that is helps align the firm’s resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates.

This is one of building blocks of an effective business strategy.

SWOT analysis serves as an internal and external environmental factors as an important strategic part of the business planning process. Internal factors can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W), and external factors as opportunities (O) or threats (T).

• Strengths refers to business resources and capabilities to establish a competitive advantage. These include: patents, strong reputation in the market and expert business knowledge.
• Weaknesses in the business can be seen as the lack of competitive advantage or the absence of significant strengths. These include: lack of patent protection, mad reputation in the market and the lack of expertise among the work force.
• Opportunities come in the form of the ability and scope for future profit and growth within the business and the market. Opportunities arise in the form of new or unfulfilled customer requirements, new technologies and new local or international trade possibilities.
• Threats come in the form of changes in the external business environment that may have an adverse effect on the business such sanctions, trade regulations and a shift in consumer behavior.

Now that you know what your business’s strengths ,weaknesses, opportunities and threats are we will be able to continue developing your competitive advantages through the SWOT Matrix that will be discussed in my next post.

Barloworld, one of South Africa’s largest companies announced this week that they will be focusing on the expansion of their car rental businesses in the form of Budget car rental and Avis car rental and fleet services which is already one of the world’s most renowned car rental companies.

Barloworld’s latest realignment has been made possible through the disposal of its Scandinavian car rental operations to RAC Holding AS which is Norwegian Investor group.

Martin Laubscher, CEO Barloworld Automotive said: “Our strategic review concluded that it would not be feasible to implement our integrated vehicle usage solutions strategy in the region. We are pleased to have concluded the transaction in difficult market conditions and are confident that the new owners will continue to build the Avis and Budget brands and exceed our customers’ expectations in the region.”
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John Baladski has been one of South Africa’s most successful franchise owners and further to his ownership of several Pick n Pay franchises, he is also a successful author and gives great insight into running a successful franchise business.

Here is John’s top tips so succeed in the franchising business:

Engage the customer:

The closer you are to your clients, the higher your success rate. Excellent service should be seen as an investment because bad customer service loses you business and profit.

Set the standards:

“Every day should be opening day.” Your business needs to be consistent and maintain the same standard you set on your opening day.

Lead the team:

Leadership is more than just being the boss. You need to pick a direction and stick to it. Don’t lose focus on the target – adjust the course when necessary to get there, but never take your aim off the goal.

Improve one thing daily by innovating:

Find ways to cut costs, improve the customer experience, and run your business more efficiently.
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Cloud Computing is most definitely one of topics on everybody’s minds, but what is cloud computing? How does cloud computing work, how much does cloud computing cost and how does it influence my business? These are the relevant questions that business professionals and Organizations are facing.

Deloitte South Africa has written some excellent pieces on the opportunities and pitfalls of Cloud Computing, the tax implications of cloud computing and even how it pertains to a South Africa business context.

To find out more visit Deloitte’s  informative articles below:

Cloud Computing Thought Leadership

10 Things a CEO should know about Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing in a South African business context

Tax implications of cloud computing

Cloud Computing in a Nutshell

Mazor Group, one of South Africa’s leading structural steelwork and aluminium specialists has successfully acquired a 50% stake in Hulamin Building Systems HBS after the conditions of the R35m purchase had been fulfilled.

Hulamin Building Systems and their business arm Hulamin Extrusions is one of the leading aluminium-building systems suppliers to the South African architectural industry. Although the Mazor saw a drop in revenue at R273.5m, down  from R295.6m in 2009 and an operating profit loss that saw the company at R45.99m, down from R74.837m earlier.

Although the outlook Mazor Aluminium and Mazor Steel remained weak in the short term, the organization if optimistic that the Mazor Aluminium  Hulamin Building Systems (HBS) acquisition would assist to an extent in offsetting the adverse trading conditions in 2011.

As the digital economy catches up to us each day, digital retailers feel the heat of intense rivalry and competition which forces them to cut prices, this is good for us no doubt. In this light, with the release of Apple’s iPad which is pretty expensive especially for South Africans, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have slashed the prices of their e-readers respectively.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook reader see a drop of $57 from $259 to $199. This is the likely catalyst for Amazon’s decision to drop the price of their Kindle e-book reader from $279 to $189 which is a decent drop of $90. This means that a South African would be able to acquire a Kindle reader for around $1425, shipping included.

The e-book reader market is hotting up with the imminent release of the new Kindle (most likely end 2010) from Amazon which would most likely spark another price dropping frenzy.

In Forex Trading the word Liquidity refers to the level of market interest — the level of buying and selling volume — available at any given moment for a particular asset or security. The higher the liquidity, or the deeper the market, the faster and easier it is to buy or sell a security.

From a trading perspective, liquidity is a critical consideration because it determines how quickly prices move between
trades and over time. A highly liquid market like forex can see large trading volumes transacted with relatively minor price changes. An illiquid, or thin, market tends to see prices move more rapidly on relatively lower trading volumes.