JD Group earnings up 18%

JD Group earnings up 18%

JD Group revenue is up 20% to just under R12-billion, operating profit is up by 15% to R2-billion, and headline earnings per share are up 18% for the year ended 31 August 2006. Cash generated by operations is R1.5-billion. With JD Group chairman David Sussman

LINDSAY WILLIAMS: David, a good set of numbers - was there any difference between the first half of the year and the second half with the interest rate increases?

DAVID SUSSMAN: Absolutely. The second half of the year was much tougher than the first half - its become a tough slog to achieve budget, and that has persisted into the new financial year. Quite frankly its quite clear that the consumer faced with this proliferation of credit cards must be feeling the pinch

LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Yes, its quite a sobering thing when a company like JD Group comes out with numbers like this and says: its been a tough slog.

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Tucker family sells out of Yorkcor for R63m

Tucker family sells out of Yorkcor for R63m

FORESTRY products group Yorkcor has ceded control of the business to Blackstar Investors, a Luxembourg-based company listed on the Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange, and simultaneously announced a 26% black empowerment partnership.

The Tucker family, which has controlled the company for nearly a century, has agreed to sell its entire 84,75% ownership in Yorkcor at R9,80 a share for a total of R63,5m.

In a consequent transaction, Yorkcor and Blackstar will make a joint cash offer to acquire 100% of Yorkcor’s issued share capital at R9,80 a share, with Yorkcor undertaking to acquire 26% of the shares on behalf of its new empowerment shareholders.

Yorkcor said it intended to remain listed on the JSE, because “it is the ideal vehicle to serve as a platform for growth”.

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Meet the man who runs Bill Gates's money

Meet the man who runs Bill Gates's money

Michael Larson doesn't grant many interviews, and he certainly wasn't talking yesterday. But then again, someone who manages money for the world's richest man and the biggest charitable foundation on the planet probably doesn't need any extra attention.

Mr. Larson, 46, runs Bill Gates Investments, or BGI for short. That includes handling Mr. Gates's personal portfolio, through a company called Cascade Investment LLC, and overseeing investments for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private charity in the world.

All told, Mr. Larson manages around $50-billion (U.S.), all from a small office outside Seattle identified only as "investments" by a friendly secretary. That amount will jump by at least another $30-billion in a few years once Warren Buffett finishes donating almost his entire fortune to the Gates Foundation.

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Pop-up Ad Costs Local Man Money

Pop-up Ad Costs Local Man Money Computer security experts have issued this warning many a time, think twice before clicking on pop-up ads! A local man says he wishes he'd known how dangerous they can be,, before he made that very mistake. When Josh Hershner of Fairfield needed some business cards he went on the internet and bought them from a company named VIsta Print. That, he says, is when the trouble began. JOSH HERSHNER: "A popup came up to say after I purchased them, save 20 bucks. So I said ok, I'll save 20 bucks and clicked on it and had to put my email address in." Then, a few months later, Hershner says he noticed there were charges on his bank statement for $14.95 apiece, plus an overdraft fee. He learned this was because of the popup ads to which he had responded-- which came from a company called Vertrue.

Ambir Technology Announces Only Solution to Scan Business Cards ...

Ambir Technology Announces Only Solution to Scan Business Cards ... ELMHURST, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambir Technology, Inc., www.ambir.com, a manufacturer and marketer of scanners, electronic signature pads and digital imaging software solutions, today announces another industry first – its Scan2Contacts business card scanning solution that combines OCR (optical character recognition) software with a lightweight, small-footprint Ambir A6 card scanner. Scan2Contacts is a fully-integrated add-on to Microsoft Outlook, delivering automatic new contact entry into what has become the de facto standard for business users to store contact information. Because it works directly from within Outlook, Scan2Contacts is the only business card scanning solution that eliminates the need for a third party application before information can be imported into Outlook, making it the most simplified and convenient system available to scan business cards into Outlook .