Wednesday, May seven, 2008

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

Making headlines today:

Electrical-engineering company Powertech, a subsidiary of the Altron group, said on Tuesday that, while the prevailing South African power supply crisis was a risk to its operations, it was also creating many opportunities for the company.

Altron chief executive Robert Venter commented that there had been an increase in demand for backup power, gensets, battery systems, and solar systems, as well as new impetus for co-generation opportunities for alternative power supplies in South Africa.

In addition, there was a growing appetite for demand side management systems and products to reduce electricity consumption; increasing expenditure by Eskom and the municipalities on substations and networks, which all presented new opportunities for Powertech.

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Africa's biggest cement maker, PPC, on Wednesday posted a net profit for the six months ended March 31, of 674-million rand, which was a 15% increase on the same period the previous year, as governments spending on infrastructure projects continued to swell.

Headline earnings a share showed a 16% rise, after the group grew its revenue by 13% to 2,9-billion rand.

CEO John Gomersall said it was a robust set of half year results given current market conditions, with cement demand being driven by infrastructural and affordable housing programmes.

South Africa's biggest gold-miner AngloGold Ashanti said on Tuesday that it was confident of moving towards full production capacity at its local operations and said that it would "claw back" a large slice of the gold ounces it had expected to lose because of the national power crisis.

It was currently operating at 96,5% of its previous electricity use, and was targeting a 4,5% power reduction this year, CEO Mark Cutifani said.

The company managed to exceed its production guidance for the quarter ended March 31 by 9%, producing 1,2-million ounces of gold.

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Also making headlines:

Oil steadies near 122 dollars ahead of US inventory data
Ford to export Rangers to the rest of Africa
New vehicle sales drop 2,8% while demand continues to weaken
Randgold first-quarter output up on higher gold price
Day of mourning as Gold Fields pays tribute to South Deep miners
And, Xstrata coal output declines but chrome and copper rise

In political news:

China arms ship unloads only cement in Angola says the International Transport Workers Federation
South Africa's HIV infection rate estimated at 5,6-million
And, a study finds Africans get substandard malaria drugs

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit engineeringnews.co.za, miningweekly.com and polity.org.za