Africa

Aggreko was founded in the Netherlands in the early 1960s to provide temporary power generation to local companies. In 1973 it moved to the UK, establishing its headquarters at Dumbarton in Scotland, the first step in an expansion programme that has brought it to where it is today, present in 47 countries and employing around 6,000 people. The London Stock Exchange-listed company, a member of the FTSE-100 index, provides power and temperature control solutions to customers who need them either very quickly, or for a short or indeterminate length of time.

Political uncertainty and the serious lack of infrastructure development have gone hand in hand to hold back the development of mineral resources in the DRC. We frequently cover gold mining projects in both West and East Africa that have been in development since the mid 1980s, however though it's among the richest natural resource countries in Africa, the DRC seems to have lagged badly.

With its headquarters in Bonn, Germany DHL is part of the massive Deutsche Post DHL Group, which in 2012 generated revenues of over €55 billion. DHL is the global market leader in the logistics industry acting as a supply chain partner to its customers in international express delivery, air and ocean freight, road and rail transportation and contract logistics.

“In the time since we last spoke towards the end of 2012 attendance at our Diving School has increased by around 40 percent,” states Bridget Thomson, Managing Director of SEADOG Commercial Diving School. “This increase sees us today operating at maximum capacity, which for a business that has been around for a relatively short period of time is extremely good news indeed.”

When Rod Webster established his company Weatherly in 2005 he and his partners had been casting around for that elusive beast, a company-making project. When some assets he had acquired in Zambia turned out not to be it he shifted his attention to Namibia, acquiring the assets of a struggling local copper producer called Ongopolo in 2006. In July that year Weatherly plc was admitted to London’s AIM market, and since then has been focused on Namibia.

The two diamonds, the 162.02 carat type II diamond and the 161.31 carat type I, were both recovered from the company’s Letšeng mine in Lesotho at the end of January 2014 and sold for $11.1 million and $2.4 million respectively.

In a press release the company noted that the two rough diamonds both achieved top prices, in accordance with their respective colour, clarity and expected  polished yield, at Letšeng’s February tender.

CG/LA Infrastructure Inc, which specialises in strategic infrastructure project identification, yesterday announced the recipients of its sought-after awards. The awards honour the leaders driving the next generation’s most transformative global infrastructure projects in five categories: strategic, finance, engineering, job creation, and green/new infrastructure.

“Across the business, we served 53 million meals in the financial year to June 2013,” states Chief Executive Officer, Pierre van Tonder. “That is almost one meal for every person in South Africa.” Such impressive numbers really speak for themselves and highlight just how iconic a brand Spur Steak Ranches has become in South Africa.

Plascon is a company with serious clout in South Africa, where it had its origins 125 years ago in 1889. Under his own name Herbert Evans, a new arrival to South Africa from Wales, set up a business in Johannesburg to produce polishes, varnish – and ready mixed tinted paints, a first for South Africa. During his lifetime, Evans, as well as the paint product introduced an excellent floor polish and a revolutionary Best Elastic carriage varnish that could accommodate the expansion and contraction of wood.

Aveng Trident Steel has its origins in a steel merchandising business founded in 1972 in the Germiston suburb of Wadeville. The company has grown steadily since then, making a number of acquisitions along the way and now covers all of South Africa. In 1998 Trident became part of the Aveng group, which listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange the following year.