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Friday, June 19, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

Economic analysis firm IHS Global Insight senior economist for South Africa, Ronèl Oberholzer, said that businesses had to know where in the business cycle they were positioned and what their sensitivity to the business cycle was, to enable them to survive the downturn.

Oberholzer explained that there were six phases in the business cycle. She noted that South Africa was now in the second phase of a downswing, with leading indicators showing a change of direction in economic activity.

The country's economy had reached the bottom of its downturn. While some risks still remained, the remainder of 2009 would be characterised by consolidation and stabilisation of the economy, followed by stronger growth in 2010.

South Africa entered its first recession in 17 years in the first quarter of 2009. Contractions in gross domestic product are expected to continue in the second and third quarters of the year.

Energy and chemicals group Sasol warned on Friday that its attributable earnings a share and headline earnings a share would probably decline by between 40 and 50% for the year to June 30, 2009, when compared with the prior year.

The large decrease was attributable mainly to lower oil and chemical prices, together with a considerable reduction in refining margins and a further deterioration in chemical markets.

Also included in the fall was the effect of the non-cash charges relating to the Sasol Inzalo black economic-empowerment transaction and the administrative penalties paid to the European Commission and the South African Competition Commission.

Also making headlines:

The Bureau for Economic Research says that manufacturing is still in dire straights, but the worst could be over.
Construction company Group Five and its black economic empowerment partner iLima will part ways.
Minister Naledi Pandor says that South Africa will spend more on science and technology.
And, many companies are in the third round of retrenchments.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.