TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
By Matthew Hill
Buy one, get one free. That's what new oil play SacOil is offering investors who get in before 2008 is out. The company will give them one share in subsidiary Pioneer Coal for each SacOil share they hold. SacOil (formerly Samroc) ...

OPEC TO CUT SAVAGELY
By Matthew Hill
Goldman Sachs predicted in May that oil could erupt through the US$200/barrel level by year end. It seems the bank might have accidentally added a zero to its figure, if a recent World Bank report is anything to go by. In a report released last we...

BULKY BALANCE SHEET
By Matthew Hill
Mining capital is running scared and hundreds of projects around the world are on ice, but this doesn't seem to worry Brian Gilbertson, the grizzled chief of Pallinghurst Resources. Under Gilbertson, who brought BHP and Billiton tog...

BATTLE LINES DRAWN
By Sibonelo Radebe
The banking industry has raised the stakes in its battle to fend off the demand to raise the direct black ownership target in the financial sector charter (FSC) from 10% to 15% by calling for political intervention. "We are convince...

CODE CONFUSION
By Sibonelo Radebe
The department of trade & industry's PR machinery has sprung into action to defend its troubled black economic empowerment (BEE) blueprint in what could be a too-little-too-late intervention. But there is reason to believe that the ...

LIST SURPRISINGLY SHORT
By Larry Claasen
Twenty companies are stuck in the JSE's naughty corner, having been suspended from the exchange for a range of infractions. This sorry lot - a small proportion of the 427 companies listed on the bourse - have been sanctioned for: <...

KIWIS GET 71% WINDFALL
By Rob Rose
If mega mergers attract megalomaniacs, as some think, then the JSE's bid to merge with the Bond Exchange of SA (Besa) must be seductive to investors who believe the easiest way to a quick buck is by buying into a monopoly. After 10 ...

INVESTMENT OF THE WEEK
By Stephen Cranston
Who it's for: Investors looking for a high dividend yield and capital appreciation through a share portfolio tilted towards undervalued shares. Who runs it: Ross Biggs and Mark Beckenstrater of Prudential Portfolio Managers. ==li...

HARD TO FEEL SYMPATHY
By Rob Rose
There's nothing that brightens the day of a battered banker like a rip-roaring financial scandal. This is much-needed festive cheer, considering a quarter of bankers in Europe are set to get no Christmas bonus, while others face a 6...

NOT THE BEST TIME TO ASK
By Andrew McNulty
For many companies elsewhere in the world, access to funding has become much tougher than in the past. How challenging is this for local companies? As usual when banks are involved, it depends on how much they need the money. As lon...

DIAMONDS & DOGS
By Jamie Carr
Diamond BAT When Paul the Apostle was dashing off his Epistle to the Romans, he lobbed in the rather gloomy thought that "the wages of sin is death". If he'd had the chance to study the list of the JSE's largest companies b...