Firm turns to forex to boost revenue

ATLAS Mara has turned to one of the businesses that co-founder Bob Diamond knows best to boost revenue: currency trading. An “exceptional performance” from “customer-flow forex trading” helped to push Atlas Mara’s total revenue up 15 percent to $177 million (R2 billion) for the first nine months of this year, the company said this week. Atlas Mara has found a profitable niche in volatile currencies, such as the Mozambique metical and Botswana pula, helping it to overcome mounting bad loans and make $4m in net income for the period. Diamond is looking for ways to restore confidence in Atlas Mara, which has lost 72 percent of its value since selling shares to the public three years ago to buy up stakes in banks across sub-Saharan Africa. “This is a business we know really well,” chief executive John Vitalo said. “It’s got huge potential.” Atlas Mara’s Global Markets & Treasury unit (GMT), more than doubled revenue to $26m for the ninemonth period, the company said. Diamond’s firm was now pulling off 1 800 currency trades each month, compared with 800 each month last year. The company has been struggling to make money from lending amid a slump in sub-Saharan economic growth and a decline in the currencies of some of its key countries against the US dollar. Yet some of these conditions created opportunities for the GMT unit. Stock was unchanged at $3 by 8.50am in London yesterday.” – Bloomberg ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM