The Kenya-based financial services firm on Tuesday said pretax profit leapt 79.5 percent to 1.45 billion Shillings ($17.2 million) as Kenya’s booming economy boosted lending by banks.

According to Reuters, most banks in east Africa’s biggest economy have reported higher earnings for the first three months of this year.

The financial services firm, whose parent company is South Africa’s Standard Bank, said earnings per share increased to 5.94 shillings from 4.66 shillings compared to a year ago.

CfC Stanbic Bank is a corporate and retail bank licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya to offer financial services in the Kenyan economy.

Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest bank by assets, was founded more than 150 years ago and currently has operations in 18 African countries and other parts throughout the globe.

CfC Stanbic Bank has over the years built a good reputation in the corporate and investment banking world. It has structured and designed some of the East Africa’s largest financial deals. CfC Stanbic Bank is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE).

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Seaking at a New Age briefing in Johannesburg following the release of a government report on the 2010 World Cup, Mbalula said the World Cup had- amongst other things- contributed 55.7 billion rand ($5.8 billion) to South Africa’s economy.

Mbalula also cited cases of infrastructural development as evidence of the positive impact of hosting the World Cup.

“There were important injections of infrastructure in this country that have been seen,” Mbalula said. “World-class stadia were built, road, airports, renovation of retail stations, exciting legacies and projects, and promotion of the country’s beauty and culture. Five new stadiums were built, five stadiums were upgraded, 32 training sites were upgraded and 25 new hotels were built,” he concluded.

The Sports Minister also attributed the country’s survival of the recession to ‘investments that took place around the World Cup’.

On job creation, Mbalula disclosed that hosting the World Cup resulted in the creation of over 400,000 jobs as ‘ hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup acted as a catalyst to fast-track many projects that benefited the country long after the tournament ended’.

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It is believed that Biti disclosed this shocking news to the government newspaper, The Herald.

Biti allegedly said the state will pass laws demanding all banks, including international lenders, to have their shares on the ZSE.

It is understood that the rationale for this move is to assist these companies to raise funding.

It is not clear why he only targeted banks and not companies in other sectors.

“Hopefully, the regulations will be gazetted this Friday to compel banks to list on the stock exchange in the next two years,” Biti reportedly told The Herald, adding this is aimed at preventing future bank failures.

The banks will also be urged to spread their services to rural people.

Fin24 named South African banks operating in Zimbabwe but not listed on the local bourse as Stanbic Bank (Standard Bank Group, MBCA (Nedbank Group), and CABS (Old Mutual).

The South African financial news website named other international banks as Barclays Bank, which is already listed, and Standard Chartered Bank.

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Khaya Buthelezi, the GEPF spokesman, told Business Day that the acquisition of the stake in Independent News & Media SA was in keeping with the government’s mandate.

“In terms of our development investment policy, to which we have allocated 50 percent [about R60 billion] of total assets under management, we seek to invest in commercially viable projects that deliver both financial and social returns,” Business Day quoted Buthelezi as saying.

“In addition, we seek to promote black economic empowerment to increase economic participation by the majority in the mainstream economy.”

GEPF is the power behind the throne of Public Investment Corporation (PIC), South Africa’s only sovereign wealth fund.

GEPF is Africa’s biggest pension fund and has more than 1.2 million members and around 360 000 pensioners. It has assets worth R1 trillion ($105 billion).

GEPF also has a 19 percent shareholding in Times Media Group, the owners of Business Day and a fierce competitor of Independent News & Media.

South Africa’s largest English-language newspaper group, Independent News & Media, recently sold its South African unit for R2 billion ($219.6 million).

It sold it to a consortium of investors led by Iqbal Survé, a renowned SA businessman, philanthropist and former doctor to ex-president Nelson Mandela.

INM has been a major player in the South African media with its newspaper titles which include, Business Report, The Star, the Pretoria News, Cape Argus, Cape Times, Daily Voice, Daily News, The Mercury, Saturday Star and Sunday Independent and the Zulu-language paper, Isolezwe.

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It is believed that US’s second largest oil firm will generate about $300 million from the sale of these possessions.

International oil majors are currently withdrawing from doing business in their “downstream operations” to pay more attention on high-margin discoveries and production pursuits.

According to Reuters, Royal Dutch Shell in April said it was thinking of disposing off some of its Italian downstream assets.

Earlier this month, the firm sold its Egyptian downstream assets to French energy giant Total.

US-based oil and gas explorer, Hess Corp, is poised to leave its retail gasoline, marketing and trading businesses.

Chevron is also selling its Pakistan assets but the sale of these assets is being conducted separately.

Reuters would not name its sources, saying the matter was not yet public.

It is understood that Chevron has received three non-binding offers from interested parties. Interested parties include regional and international firms.

“They are small assets but are profitable and gaining a lot of interest in the auction process. There are lots of buyers for whom owning these businesses makes perfect sense,” sources told Reuters.

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VENTURES AFRICA – The political instability in Egypt and neighbouring countries has hindered the influx of investment. Businesses’ are nervous about the political outlook and this has aggravated worries about Egypt’s infrastructure and regulation.

Nevertheless, Egypt offers longstanding benefits for both local and international companies. And it is possible to cut through or minimise the infrastructure problems and political risk. So despite the challenges, there remain compelling reasons for doing business there.

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According to a CP-Africa report, the investment increases Millicom’s stake in Jumia Africa from 20 to 35 percent.

Commenting on the investment, Millicom’s President and CEO, Hans-Holger Albrecht, said: “The opportunities look even greater than when we first decided to invest in them. In Africa, e-commerce could hasten the evolution of the established retail sector as consumers increasingly adopt the digital lifestyle.That is why such timely investment is of essence.”

Jumia Africa’s Co-founders and CEOs, Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec were confident about the investment’s impact on the retailer’s performance.

“It will give us the financial power to increase even more our leadership position in fast growing markets such as Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Kenya and to expand to new countries fast,” they said.

Millicom offers a range of digital services to over 45 million customers under the “tigo” brand in fifteen emerging markets as well as ecommerce sites across Africa and Latin America. Founded in 1990, the firm’s revenue has been driven mainly by mobile phone services but also offers cable, broadband, e-commerce and other media. In March 2013 the company announced a new strategy to double annual revenue to $9 billion in 2017.

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Guangli revealed this during a courtesy call to Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State. He said the team had spent two days in the state exploring possible areas of investments and having found that there are great opportunities, it decided to start with the establishment of a truck plant.

The visit was as a result of collaboration between the state government and the zone to bring investments into the state, General Manager of the Calabar FTZ, Sadiq Kassim, said.

Kassim explained that Chang Chun City, which has a population of over seven million and wants to invest in Nigeria through its chambers of commerce.

Aside building a truck manufacturing company, the Deputy Mayor revealed that the trade mission also have the intention of investing in agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors, noting that China and Nigeria have an age long commerce relationship.

Explaining the rationale behind the investment, Guangli stated that from the study carried out by the manufacturing company, the state (Cross River) is conducive for investments couple with the airport, seaport and free trade zone.

He added that the company which already has eleven outlets across the world including Japan, Germany and the United States will produce trucks that will be of high technology and high class.

The Deputy Mayor however said that volume of production will be determined by the economic indices of demand.

Speaking on the proposed investment, the state Governor, Liyel Imoke, praised the Chinese Trade Mission adding that the move will strengthen and develop the state’s economy.

Cross Rivers state is on one of Nigeria’s oil producing states. The establishment of a manufacturing plant would help divest concentration on the oil production which is the mainstay of the country’s economy.

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In addition, the company has positioned Pete Buresh, its regional vice president for International Aircraft Sales/Africa, in Cape Town, South Africa.

“These additional resources put us closer to our customers and position us for growth opportunities in these regions,” said Scott Neal, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Gulfstream. “The momentum we carry following the entry-into-service of our two new aircraft, the G650 and G280, makes this an ideal time for renewed focus, particularly in Europe, a traditionally strong business jet market.”

The London sales and design center will give European, African and other international customers convenient access to the acquisition and design stages of a Gulfstream business jet. Its centerpiece will be a showroom filled with a range of veneers, leathers and fabrics from which to create an aircraft interior.

The facility is located in the Mayfair district of central London.

Gulfstream’s new authorized sales representatives for aircraft transactions in Europe are Tim Leacock Aircraft Sales in the United Kingdom, ATP Aviation in Ankara, Turkey, and Loyd’s Aviation Group in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Gulfstream appointed Evergreen Apple Nigeria in Lagos to the same role.

Each firm has access to a network of entrepreneurs and operators that value and utilize business aviation. ATP Aviation and Loyd’s are Gulfstream operators.

“All of these partners have extensive knowledge of Gulfstream aircraft and what models are the best fits for their respective markets,” Neal said. “Customers will appreciate their expertise and attention to service.”

Buresh, a 20-year Gulfstream employee, was named sales director for Africa in March 2010.

Gullfstream is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), which designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world’s most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. The company has approximately 65 aircraft based in Africa, including more than a third that are G450s or GIVs. Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are each home to more than 10 company-built aircraft.

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Workers at the car maker’s assembly plant had gone on a wildcat strike at the end of last week after the firm allegedly threatened to “subject all workers into a kangaroo-style disciplinary process for picketing.”

This move saw South Africa’s rand tumble to a new 4-year low as the market got nervous over continued threats of labour unrest. The local unit fell more than 0.7 percent to 9.4720, reportedly its frailest since April 2009.

This came shortly after workers at platinum miner Lonmin had returned to work after a two-day strike last week demanding the expulsion of rival union from its offices on the mine.

The frequency of the wildcat strikes in South Africa confirms what analysts have been saying, that overall the pattern of violence, illegal strikes and output loss will likely continue in the coming months.

Peter Montalto, an analyst at Nomura Group, said the impact of these strikes will be a wider current account deficit, revenue damage for the fiscal situation and lower economic growth.

“However, key flash points between violent and armed mine workers and police should be watched closely by the market,” Montalto said.

Lynette Skriker, Mercedez Benz spokewoman, said production will start on Tuesday 21 May, adding production in the plant had been negatively impacted by the two-day walkout.

Moneyweb quoted the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa’s) national treasurer, Mphumzi Maqungo, as saying the union would encourage workers to respect court decision.

He reportedly told Moneyweb the lunch-hour demonstrations had collapsed into a protest on Friday.

“The strike action was imposed on them (the workers) after serious provocation and threats by the employer to subject all workers into a kangaroo-style disciplinary process for picketing. We will never allow our members to be bullied for exercising their democratic right to embark on a picket,” he told Moneyweb.

“We fully support the demands of our members. We call on the management to re-open doors of engagement in order to settle the dispute.”

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