Africa

South Africa’s clothing retail sector has faced a challenge as customers find themselves with lower disposable incomes. Lily Moreira, managing director at John Craig, tells Andrew Pelis how tough times have sparked new ideas.

Tough times call for tough measures, or so the saying goes. But for one South African business, the current economic retail slump has led to rather more creative measures as it has cut its cloth accordingly.

SABMiller, the world’s second biggest brewer by volume, has reported a 13 per cent rise in interim profits.

The London-based brewer’s results were boosted by this summer’s World Cup and sales growth in emerging markets.

The group’s portfolio of brands includes international beers such as Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Miller Genuine Draft and Grolsch, as well as brands such as Aguila, Castle, Miller Lite, Snow and Tyskie. SAB is also one of the world’s largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products.

BP has announced the sale of its Southern African forecourt network to Puma Energy, a unit of international commodities trader Trafigura, for $296 million.

BP is selling its interests in forecourts and supply businesses in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi. The sales do not include BP's refining and marketing businesses in Mozambique or South Africa.

Angola's state-owned oil company Sonangol will buy a 10 per cent stake in Puma's newly acquired assets.

SEMS Exploration has built its reputation as a mineral exploration service consultancy on a unique business model. Managing director Simon Meadows Smith talks to Gay Sutton about the secrets of retaining staff through good times and bad.

Hatti Zeppel, CEO of Green Cross Manufacturing, South Africa’s leading comfort footwear manufacturer, has been caught off guard by the company’s success over the past year. Jayne Flannery reports.

Under new ownership, the South African fast food franchise DoRego’s has achieved a significant turnaround. Gerald Brown talks to Gay Sutton about revamping the brand and introducing operational management improvements.

Anvil Mining is about to become one of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s leading copper producers. A defining characteristic of the company’s presence in the DRC is the degree to which it is taking a leading role with a carefully crafted corporate social responsibility strategy. President and CEO Bill Turner talks to Jayne Flannery.

Anglo Swiss mining giant Xstrata has raised its cash offer to buy Australia’s Sphere Minerals by 20 per cent to A$514 million (approximately €365 million).

Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata said the offer was final and would lapse if shareholder acceptances stayed below 50 per cent by 12 November. 8.1 per cent of Sphere’s shareholders had accepted the initial offer as of 2 November.

Webb Construction is playing an increasingly major role in support of West Africa’s mining boom, as Ben Sansom reports.