“We decided to give more formal structure to this research effort by compiling authoritative reports on national markets and key sectors.
 
“The success of our banking book was an eye-opener. We decided to maintain momentum by creating a continuing stream of authoritative reports. We knew there was great international appetite for reliable, up-to-the-minute data on African countries. That appetite may be even stronger than we first thought.”
 
Imara is committed to the facilitation of investment into Africa and in the last 15 months has twice brought international fund managers to Harare for on-the-spot assessments of Zimbabwean opportunities. It frequently collaborates with officials from various SSA countries to give in-depth briefings to investors in major centres such as London.
 
Tunmer adds: “We plan to publish an ongoing series of investment books and reports on a wide range of national markets, key sectors and listed companies.
 
“Once the base is established, we will look at six-monthly updates. We also plan to produce national editions of sectoral reports that will put the spotlight on a particular jurisdiction.”

“National Treasury is struggling to balance the state books, the budget deficit runs into billions of rands and there is a growing gap between spending and revenue collections, which places increasing pressure on the Treasury to provide government with the necessary funds to deliver on its ever-increasing list of commitments and demands,” says Buttrick.

Historically, Treasury has managed to expand the tax net with more individuals and companies, as is evident from the previously substantial budget surpluses running into tens of billions of Rands. Arguably, the huge surpluses were a result of robust economic activity fuelled by the post-apartheid euphoria and direct foreign investment.

“But things have changed in recent years, triggered by international financial disasters, such as the international banking crisis, stagnation of industry, property and stock market collapses have resulted in a world-wide recession. Treasury’s woes also had a national colour with large committed state spending, an unavoidable recession, rising unemployment, worrying levels of corruption and mismanagement, aggressive labour unions and a critical media”.

Inevitably, Treasury was forced to become more “creative” with revenue collections. Admittedly, a blanket increase of 2% across all taxpayers’ marginal rates would have been a simpler remedy to make up any shortfalls. Instead, collections are or will be increased by alternative “pockets” of tax which include:

• the increased fuel levies as well as sin taxes;
• the new carbon emission vehicle tax (a specific tax to be charged on new passenger cars);
• certain benefits, such as key man policies will in some instances be taxed as a fringe benefit;
• employer paid contributions for group employee life cover is currently being reconsidered and may lead to a tax benefit in the hands of employers. Therefore the incentive for employers to provide such cover will be diminished, as will the benefit to employees;
• company car fringe benefit rules will be further tightened, essentially heralding the end for car benefits; and
• winnings in the hand of gamblers are exempt from personal income tax, but this practice is now being reviewed;
• new toll fees on major highways such as the Johannesburg/Pretoria route;
• the newly introduced electricity levy as coupled with large electricity increases;

These so-called “pockets of tax” are not a new phenomenon. But with a limited tax net, the finite number of taxpayers are increasingly subjected to the burden of providing funding to a government that continuously fails to effectively match funding to service delivery and improved infrastructure.

Taxpayers have been consistently forced to come to the aid of Governmental parastatals. It is reported that a total of R241 billion in financial aid in the 2005/06 to 2008/09 financial years has been spent on “bailing out” state owned enterprises such as SAA, Eskom, Denel, SABC and the LandBank, as a result of mismanagement and corruption.

Adding injury to insult is the fact that these costs are financed in part through additional taxes, penalties and interest. Often if a taxpayer is not properly assisted even a bona fide mistake relating to tax can be costly as a result of SARS’ penal powers.

“As if this was not enough to bear, taxpayers in the form of VAT vendors must also pay constant, diligent attention to ensure compliance, as indirect taxes are being increasingly used to increase collection through penalties and interest,” says Buttrick.

For some the burden does not end there as many believe that with no comparable public alternative they have no choice but to pay for private health care, education, transport and security. Expenditure that should be borne by your “tax rands”.

“Tax is an integral part of any society and in most developed nations the benefits of tax expenditure is tangible. That is not to suggest that government expenditure has in all instances been mismanaged, however, what must be asked is how much of the tax burden are taxpayers willing to dutifully sustain?”

This is subject to the various government and regulatory approvals in each country, but is expected to be finalised shortly. This signals another major step forward for Engen’s growth strategy, which is keenly focused in this region.

The last four years have seen Engen acquire downstream interests from other International Oil Marketing Companies in Burundi, DRC, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho and Rwanda. It is Engen’s intention that all employees will retain their positions.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to extend our investments in line with our growth objectives. We are committed to the companies involved and the people and believe they will be instrumental in our success – we are positive about the prospects for growth and development,” says Nizam Salleh, Managing Director and CEO of Engen Petroleum Limited.

Owned 80% by PETRONAS (Malaysia’s national oil company) and 20% by South Africa’s black-owned Worldwide Africa Investment Holdings, Engen is an African firm, committed to growing its business to the mutual benefit of the company and its stakeholders, including the countries and communities within which it operates. Engen enjoys the largest share of market in South Africa, and has a significant presence in 17 other African countries in the region.

“This is a significant investment and we expect the transaction will contribute in excess of 500 million litres a year towards our vision to be a ‘Champion in Africa’ by 2016,” says Salleh.

This is reflects massive turnaround over the past five years coming from a situation where the refinery initially struggled to operate within the limits set in its schedule trade permit.

Although the Refinery, which operates under some of the strictest environmental constraints and closest monitoring in South Africa, may have up to 35 ten minute exceedances (higher than permitted concentrations (191ppb) of SO2 for more than ten minutes) without penalty, not a single SO2 exceedance at any of the many Durban South Basin monitoring stations was attributed to Engen during 2009.

“This was achieved through a combination of intensive capital investment in technology and improved operating procedures. It was implemented in line with Engen’s policy of being industry leaders in terms of environmental performance,” says refinery general manager, Willem Oosthuizen.

His comments follow the publication, today (August 30), of the refinery’s Annual Environmental Performance Report covering the 2009 calendar year, and presentation to eThekwini Health Department as required by its Five-year Scheduled Trade Permit issued in 2004.

The report showed not only that Engen Refinery complied in all respects with the permit requirements, but that it has been proactive in working closely with the authorities using an Environmental Management Plan to identify and address priority environmental issues related to its activities.

The Refinery has also forged ahead in other areas aimed at reducing its environmental footprint through projects such as the implementation of an integrated waste management plan which is now regarded as a benchmark for the rest of Engen.

Oosthuizen noted that the Refinery had pushed ahead with these improvements despite the fact that the high cost coupled with low international refining margins had put severe pressure on the refinery’s bottom line over the past two years.

He added that the refinery endorses initiatives aimed at producing one set of requirements for permits, reporting, and incident management and reporting standards that apply nationally across all industries. Not only will this contribute to environmental sustainability, it will also ensure that all industries operate on level playing fields.

It should eliminate the likelihood of some industrial operations being negatively spotlighted simply because they are measured against tougher standards.

Officially opening the show, Gauteng Economic Development MEC Firoz Cachalia said a positive outcome of the global financial crisis was that Government is recognising that future economic development will be dependent upon the manufacturing industry. afrimold was therefore timely, serving to highlight the role of the tooling industry as the most critical component behind manufacturing industry development.

Exhibition director Ron MacLarty commented that the spirit of the show and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from visitors and exhibitors alike took the tooling industry by surprise. “Personally, I am over the moon. It has been a triumph for all who were involved and it has given the industry both direction and confidence for the future. This exhibition should have been held years ago, such has been the impact. Not only has it demonstrated the excellence of the local tooling industry but it has created an environment of forward thinking and progression that was lacking before.”

MacLarty added that an exhibitor involved in industrial, mechanical and electrical design, who had never before ventured into the public arena in this way, ended the exhibition with more than 20 highly positive leads for new business.  “We also had 100 University students and apprentices in training come through the show and they were able to see that there is a world out there in which they can be assured of good jobs, not just in South Africa, but anywhere in the world.”

Dr Eberhard Döring, CEO of DEMAT Fairs and Exhibitions, the founding organisation of the MOLD exhibition concept, said afrimold had confirmed that there is a good future for general industry in South Africa.  “The World Cup led to a paradigm shift in the international perception of South Africa and afrimold has got off to a wonderful start. I am amazed that it was able to attract so many quality visitors after such a limited time was available in which to prepare the show. “The tool-making and design industry is critical for South Africa and with this show we now have the full backing of the DTI (Department of Trade & Industry) and the support of the industry itself. It has been a great success.”

The representative organisation for the South African tool, die and mould industry, TASA, was strongly visible at the show. TASA Gauteng Secretary Henk Snyman said: “This is long overdue and TASA supports the event 100%. Our aim is to co-host afrimold in the future and our involvement will be to assist with the organisation and management of the conferencing side of the event.”  TASA’s objective is to reverse the 80% of tooling that is presently imported into South Africa by increasing local tooling skills and providing platforms for sustainable, well paid job creation. Each qualified toolmaker can create or at least preserve 15 downstream jobs and up to 25 jobs if the total supply chain is included.

Russell Oosterlaak, managing director of 3D Solids Additive Manufacturing Technology, a specialist in Direct Digital Manufacture was one of the very first exhibitors to sign up for afrimold. “As our tooling industry grows and takes on international competition, it will be well-placed to lead in job creation and growth of our local skills base,” he said. “The tooling sector is the future. This show has a great engineering atmosphere. We’ve already sold 3 Dimension 3D Printers for immediate delivery to plastics design companies and a Foundry Pattern Maker.  We have confirmed orders for system delivery in September, which proves the right quality people are coming through the door.”

Plastixportal  www.plastixportal.co.za which provides an on-line plastics and packaging directory for local business, has created a huge global network and scores 600 000 hits on its site a month. “We have nine customers on the show and all of the others are going to become part of it. afrimold organisers have vision and next year will undoubtedly be both bigger and better because the word is quickly getting out there.”  Industrial heating and control specialist Unitemp was impressed with the amount of people coming through its stand where it was promoting hot runner systems for multi-cavity plastic injection moulding and injection blow moulding. Gauteng branch manager Andrew Semple said the show had created opportunities and new leads for follow-up as well as facilitated renewal of old relationships. “We are very seriously considering coming back next year.”

Applied Imaging, a supplier of large Format printers and scanners for the CAD and Graphics Industries, and high-end computers for 3D graphics, found the show a valuable experience. “We have obtained good leads for new business,” said managing director Tony Bartlett. “There has been lots of interest in what we offer and we have definitely benefited and are pleased that we made the decision to participate.”  CNC-Step, a specialist in CNC milling and routing machinery found serious interest and attracted visits from new and existing customers. “We’ve had a very good experience on afrimold,” said CNC-Step co-owner Heike Werhahn. “We have confirmed a number of sales and taken other strong leads so we will come back next year as we believe it impacts positively on our business.”  afrimold has confirmed 27-29 September as dates for next year’s’ exhibition at the Sandton Convention Centre.

 The CareerJunction Index (CJI) provides recruiters and career seekers with monthly insights into sector based online labour market trends by analysing the supply (career seekers) and demand (jobs advertised) of talent across various sectors.

A large number of job losses were seen in South Africa during 2008 and 2009. This had a direct impact on South Africa’s job market and recruitment trends in particular. The latest CJI findings suggest that the Engineering, Mining and Manufacturing, Production & Trades industries were among those hit hardest by the economic downturn.

South Africa experienced a significant downturn in online recruitment activity during 2009. At the same time the labour force widened remarkably. However, the positioning of the CJI above the 100 mark for two consecutive months indicates economic improvement, allowing many recruiters and HR professionals to shake off the burden of last year’s rickety conditions. Nevertheless, concerns are now being raised about the effects that increasing labour demand will have on South African labour brokers in the midst of the ongoing skills crisis.

Skills shortages are currently a major concern within all leading industry sectors in South Africa where recruiters are struggling to find professionals with adequate skills. An increase in hiring activity for these skills could only leave recruiters with a smaller pool of talent and thus aggravate the current situation further.

On analysis of supply trends over the last 3 months, the FMCG, Retail & Wholesale sector displays a remarkable decline. This is a particular concern, since skilled labour in this sector is limited and recruitment is difficult across many occupational fields as well as in various provinces in South Africa. This is according to the latest CJI FMCG, Retail & Wholesale Job Report which analyses the fourth quarter of 2009. The remarkable shortage of skilled professionals in this sector is putting great pressure on companies and recruiters who are struggling to find the right talent.

This situation is not unique to the FMCG, Retail & Wholesale sector but is also seen within the IT, Engineering, Manufacturing, Production & Trades, Building & Construction and Telecommunication sectors. The latest CJI Job reports, released by CareerJunction provide an in-depth snapshoot of online labour dynamics and recruitment solutions within the various sectors based on the 4rd Quarter 2009.

Some of the biggest concerns at the moment include an imbalance of labour supply and demand across certain occupational fields, job types as well as across skill level categories. Many businesses are now forced to participate in nationwide skills programmes in order to train and up-skill professionals at lower level.

Castle Lager, SAB’s flagship brand, took third place in the same category.  This is the fifth consecutive time that Carling Black Label has taken a first place in the sub-category, Beers.  “It is incredibly humbling that year after year South Africans choose Carling Black Label as their preferred beer brand. We believe that this is a huge responsibility and one which we are honoured to have.”
 
“It is further motivation for us to ensure that we continue surprising and delighting consumers so that they keep coming back for more,” says Andrea Quaye, General Manager Carling Black Label.    
 
The Top Brands Awards research survey to select the best brands was conducted by TNS Research Surveys. At least 3 900 individuals including business people were interviewed and each questioned on how regularly they used the brand. How much better than average the brand was amongst users and non-users was also calculated.  

This year’s research findings indicated that consumers chose more iconic brands with a long history in South Africa. Brands that shone through in 2010 were felt to be proudly South African and trusted amongst consumers.  “The Carling Black Label brand has been part of South Africans’ lives since the 1960s and has since firmly entrenched itself as a beer catering to consumers from all walks of life,” says Quaye.
 
“So well loved is the brand amongst ordinary South Africans, that it is one of the few which, over the years, has adopted a nickname, ‘Zamalek’, that has embedded itself into the country’s spirited vocabulary.” says Quaye.  Carling Black Label, which has always been a beer for real men, has recently refreshed its positioning to reflect a more multi-faceted expression of masculinity which is more relevant to the 21st century South African man.
 
Carling Black Label continues to increase its stature as a champion beer having won 19 international awards for taste, making it the most awarded beer brand in South Africa, ahead of its competitors by a wide margin.
 
On being recognised as one of the country’s most prominent beer brands, SAB General Manager Castle Lager, Alastair Hewitt says, “It is fitting and an honour that South Africans feel passionate about Castle Lager. The brand has always been part of the nation’s fabric and is synonymous with South Africa the world over.”

Dale Nijoka, Global Oil and Gas Leader for Ernst & Young, says: “The oil and gas industry is facing some uncertainty right now.  Mixed economic data, cutbacks in government spending, potential repercussions of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe are all contributing to a difficult outlook for the remainder of 2010.”
 
Oil prices are range-bound compared to recent years, oil prices have been remarkably constant. More modest consumption habits and weak developed economies have eased demand pressures, creating consistent prices in the US$70 to US$80 per barrel range for nearly a full year. In the absence of any supply shocks or a reversal of economic recovery, prices are expected to remain relatively stable in the short to medium term.
 
Natural gas economics set to remain challenging. North American gas fundamentals remain weak, driven by fairly weak demand and strong production growth. Globally, we have not seen the kind of demand growth some organizations are expecting for the year. Despite this, producers continue to invest substantially in unconventional gas plays, particularly shale, LNG liquefaction and regasification capacity, suggesting a more positive long-term outlook. However, there remain some challenges to overcome to realize the unconventional reserves potential in Europe and Asia, which means that it may not turn out to be a “game changer” for these regions.
 
Refining margins strengthen but further restructuring likely after a very difficult second half of 2009, refining margins have trended upwards and in many regions are back to where they were before the boom of 2005-2008. Nonetheless, additional refinery closures are likely in the US and Europe as new capacity comes online in Asia and the Middle East. Pressures remain on refiners to maintain liquidity and cash flow.
 
Winners and losers in the oilfield services sector, The Oilfield Services (OFS) sector faced a relatively weak economic environment in 2009, following the decline in upstream spending and downward pressures on utilization and day rates. However, after successfully adjusting to the new financial environment and beginning to show signs of recovery, the sector now has to deal with the repercussions of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.  Despite this, the prospects for the overall OFS sector are set to remain fair for some time yet, albeit there will be winners and losers. Spending by oil and gas companies is expected to increase in 2010 and signs of improvement are at hand as rig utilization rates have ticked modestly upward.
 

“Even though the events in the Gulf of Mexico have been difficult for parts of the OFS sector, ultimately we expect to see investment in equipment and resources to improve the safety and reliability of offshore and onshore operations. Broadly speaking, this is expected to financially benefit the oilfield services equipment manufacturers, whilst bolstering more technological advances,” said Nijoka.  
 
Heightened deal activity in Africa, James Newlands, Ernst & Young Oil & Gas Leader for Africa comments “There have been some notable oil discoveries in West Africa over the last six months.  This year will see an important milestone reached in Ghana with first oil production from the giant Jubilee field expected in the fourth quarter.   However, it is exploration success offshore East Africa that is attracting the interest of some of the larger international players.  Deal activity in East Africa, which is much less explored than West Africa, has picked up since the Windjammer gas discovery offshore Mozambique earlier this year.  ExxonMobil and BG have farmed into blocks across the border in Tanzania and AIM listed Cove Energy has a farm-in agreement for a stake in five Kenyan offshore exploration blocks.  Companies have shown that they are prepared to move quickly to secure acreage in emerging plays in Africa with the prize being the first large oil discoveries in deepwater East Africa.”
 
Global oil and gas transactions activity gathers pace M&A activity in the oil and gas sector during the first half of 2010 increased, with global deal value reaching almost US$135 billion – up almost 50% over the prior year. There were 420 deals announced through the first two quarters, versus 334 deals during the same period in 2009.  
 
Dale Nijoka comments: “Oil and gas M&A activity is starting to increase in the deal markets, and we expect that to carry through to the second half of 2010, particularly in emerging markets.  We have seen further consolidation in the OFS sector in the last six months and we expect this trend to continue for the remainder of 2010.  Deal valuations will, however, continue to be constrained by a lack of liquidity in debt markets and continued volatility in equity markets. Additionally, the appetite of a number of Asian National Oil Companies (NOCs) for acquisitions that give them access to strategic resources plays remains undiminished.”

 
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) appointed the Chinese International Engineering Consultative Company (CIECC) to arrange a panel of experts, to facilitate the PAR review. The CIECC and the appointed experts have met with stakeholders over the past 3 days and their recommendations, to the NEA, are expected to be submitted to the Administration, later this year.
 
Speaking from Beijing, as part of President Jacob Zuma’s official delegation, Sasol chief executive, Pat Davies, said he was looking forward to the outcome of the review by the experts and the approval of the project by the Chinese authorities.

 
“This review marks the culmination of many years of progress where the partners have put together the best possible commercially proven overall integrated technology package and we look forward to taking the next step, signing a joint venture agreement with our partners, bringing us closer to the establishment of a world class CTL facility in China”, Davies said.
 
“We are very proud to be involved in a project that will see South African technology and expertise being extensively utilised in this project in China, while also strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries. The CTL plant in Ningxia is an exciting opportunity for Sasol and our partners and will add significant value to the rich coal resources in the Ningxia Province”, he said.
 
The proposed project will be the largest single-project foreign direct investment in China and the country’s largest ever coal to liquid fuels project.
 
The China CTL project will convert coal to liquid fuels using Sasol proprietary technology. It will be located in the Ningdong Coal Chemical Base approximately 1300km south west of Beijing. The project will be a joint venture with partners Shenhua Ningxia Coal Group (SNCG), in which Sasol and SNCG will each hold 50% equity.