Hits & Misses

Ranger bakkie carries more workers, AECI earnings react to rejig

UNPRECEDENTED international demand for the South African-built Ranger bakkie has enabled Ford Southern Africa to increase its workforce by more than 25%. The company is employing an additional 1,200 workers for a third daily shift at its Silverton, Tshwane, vehicle assembly plant. The decision is expected to create a further 10,000 jobs at components and service suppliers.

RETAIL sales growth beat expectations for a second successive month in May, boding well for an economy that contracted in the first quarter. Retail sales rose 2.2% from a year earlier against a revised increase of 2.7% in April, data from Stats SA showed.

ANGLO American said the ramp-up of iron ore at Minas Rio in Brazil and higher volumes of coking coal had offset reduced diamond production, raising second-quarter output by 2% and keeping the company on track to meet its 2019 targets. CHEMICALS and explosives group AECI said half-year earnings fell by about a fifth, partly because of costly restructuring projects. Headline earnings per share declined by 18-22%, it said. This comes after “strategic realignment projects” in its mining explosives business and its water unit, ImproChem. These projects were completed by end-June at a total cost of R204m, it said.

EOH, which uncovered R1.2bn in suspicious payments, plans to shut down the business unit most closely associated with serious governance failings and wrongdoing. The group, which provides technology software and hardware services, is trying to reinvent itself following allegations of corruption in its past dealings with the government.

ESKOM group treasurer Andre Pillay resigned, marking yet another exit of a senior executive as the power utility struggles with a financial and operational crisis.