Factory gate prices for June 2008 has surprised many economists coming in significantly under what was expected at 16.8% year-on-year (y/y) for June 2008, reported Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), Thursday, 31 July 2008. 31 Jul 2008
Winemakers and aficionados from all over the Cape gathered at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West to attend the 2008 Landbouweekblad Woman Winemaker of the Year Award ceremony on Thursday, 24 July 2008. The competition, now in its 5th year, has grown from strength to strength and received over 60 wine entries this year. 31 Jul 2008
First Amazon transformed itself from simple online bookseller to general e-tailer. Then it spread into the world of Web services and distributed computing. Now the online giant is entering the alternative payments game. 31 Jul 2008
Wines of South Africa (WOSA), the not-for-profit organisation that promotes South African wines worldwide, is initiating a novel job-creation campaign to train 2010 wine waiters ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. 31 Jul 2008
Nintendo's profit for the fiscal first quarter surged 34% as sales of its hit Wii console shot up, underlining the success of the video game unit in attracting novice players. 31 Jul 2008
Having positioned itself as one of the biggest retailers of pre-paid cellular products in South Africa, PEP is now opening its first stand-alone cellular stores. The first PEPcell store opens on 31 July 2008 in Khayelitsha; the second store opens in Parow Centre on 1 August; the third store opens in Nyanga on 15 August. 31 Jul 2008
The International Fashion Sale is reaching to the stars to aid the plight of hundreds of victims of the recent spate of xenophobic attacks. South African celebrities, such as Mzansi actress Khanyisile Mbau and top model Christina Storm, are joining forces to aid the Red Cross at the sale, which takes place at Northgate's Coca-Cola Dome from 31 July - 3 August 2008, to collect clothes and blankets for the displaced and homeless individuals. 31 Jul 2008
Inflation for June 2008 has jumped to 11.6% year-on-year (y/y), coming in 0.7 of a percentage point higher than May 2008, reported Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), Wednesday, 30 July 2008. 30 Jul 2008
Helderberg wine estate, Eikendal, is adding to South Africa's lineup of Methode Cap Classique wines made in the style of French champagne, with the launch of its maiden MCC - Mon Desir 2005 - an elegant débutante made of 100% Chardonnay. 30 Jul 2008
House of Monatic (HoM), the clothing design, sourcing, marketing, manufacturing and distribution, subsidiary of JSE-listed Brimstone Investment Corporation (Brimstone), has announced a R3-million upgrade of its shirt factory in Salt River, Cape Town. This follows the multi-million upgrades of the group jacket, trouser line and cutting room facilities over the last few years. 30 Jul 2008
Bakers Biscuits has entered the luxury biscuit segment with the launch of the ‘Baked with Love' Premium range of decadent treats. 30 Jul 2008
South Africa is looking to increase its economic and trade relations with Egypt and Chile this week, with President Thabo Mbeki holding talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Pretoria, and Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad heading off to a forum discussion in Chile. 30 Jul 2008
A new agency with the powers to regulate all medicines and health products in South Africa, including health foods and cosmetics with medicinal claims, has been proposed by the Department of Health. 30 Jul 2008
One best practice forward-looking companies have adopted is being proactive with online conversations that criticize, question - or hopefully compliment - a company's products or services. 30 Jul 2008
The idea was simple: Build a large catalogue of consumer items and make it accessible in a structured format, unlike what already exists in wide-open search engines like Google. Give users tools similar to what they get on financial web sites. Give a unique online business experience to both the buyers of the goods and the sellers. 30 Jul 2008
The Tour de France ended this past weekend, and if you watched any of it on TV, you were overwhelmed with ads for high-end bicycle brands like Colnago and Pinarello... 30 Jul 2008
Year-over-year profits at Tokyo-based consumer electronics giant Sony fell 47% to US$326 million during the first quarter, and company officials predict a further decrease in profits later in the year. 30 Jul 2008
Expert believes this year's trend is similar to the last two drop-offs - in the early 1990s and earlier part of this decade - when PIB revenue and pages declined, but later recovered as the ad market picked up. 30 Jul 2008
Furniture retailer JD Group says it has acquired 5.42 million ordinary shares, equivalent to 3% of its issued share capital, for a total consideration of R217.2 million in the open market. 29 Jul 2008
The self-service kiosk industry is growing at a fast clip, with transactions at these expected to surpass US$607 billion this year in North America alone, according to the IHL Group. But are the kiosks really increasing efficiency for consumers? 29 Jul 2008
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