Pretoria - Listed property still represented good value for property investors wanting a relatively secure income stream despite a poor prognosis for rental income growth in the medium term, said Rode & Associates, the property economists, in its latest review of the property market.
Pretoria - Redefine Income Fund's R356.4 million bid to acquire a portfolio of 27 investment properties from Rand Leases Properties (RL Props) had been approved by linked unit holders of both companies, the listed property loan stock company reported yesterday.
Pretoria - ApexHi, the JSE Securities Exchange-listed property loan stock company, has acquired six new properties in Port Elizabeth worth R45 million, boosting the value of its portfolio to R1.925 billion.
IT IS not every day that a property portfolio of the quality of Richway Retail Properties is available for sale at attractive capitalisation rates, say Primegro joint MDs Martin Ettin and Derek Greenberg, who have secured the portfolio.
Pretoria - The Competition Commission would look into price increases by cement makers, due to come into effect next year, if concerns were expressed about them, it said at the weekend.
The commission's comments follow complaints by some buyers that the three biggest cement producers in the country - PPC, Alpha and Lafarge - had notified them of price increases above 20 percent from next year.
Peter Lord, the owner and chairman of concrete product manufacturers Echo Floor, Echo Prestress and Fastfloor, said: 'I don't know how they can justify it. PPC has just announced a 45 percent increase in attributable profit.
'What is a surprise is that the cement cartel was abolished in 1996 but cement manufacturers seem to be acting in concert.
'They're all talking about the same increase, which seems remarkable, and all have come up with the same reasons at exactly the same time. I understood that was anti-competitive.'
Peter Nelson, PPC's financial director, described suggestions that its cement prices would increase by more than 20 percent next year as nonsense.
'Normally, we have two price rises in a year and take into account cost inputs and what is happening in the market. It has been a responsible approach and our price increases have been around the producer price index and inflation mark.
'Obviously the currency has also impacted on the cost of fuel and imported consumables.'
Geoff Parr, the chief economist at the Competition Commission, said the commission normally responded to a complaint submitted to it by somebody affected by price rises or collusion.
But provisions of the Competition Act with regard to restrictive practices allowed the commission to initiate a complaint.
'If there is concern, we will look into it. It's too early to tell if price increases are excessive and we aren't aware that they will all be implemented simultaneously and of any collusion.'
Parr added that it had been reported that many of the cement manufacturers' customers were on long-term contracts and increases of 20 percent to 30 percent were 'not so bad if prices were set many years ago'.
Corporate Real Estate Services, a division of Old Mutual Properties, has saved Sun International R1 million through renegotiation of a lease on its Cape Town offices.
AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL team meets in Pretoria today to firm up the strategy of selling and implementing the Millennium Africa Recovery Programme (Map) to South Africans.
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