De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd said it had reached an annual wage settlement with the National Employees Trust Union (NETU) at its Premier and Finsch diamond mines. It said according to the settlement, workers would receive a 10-per cent increase in salaries.

The agreement also made provision for the payment of an additional allowance of 410 rand per month to artisans at Premier Mine, to address a concern about attrition amongst artisans. De Beers signed a two-year wage agreement with South Africa's National Union of Mine workers.

De Beers said the agreement was the first such agreement in the South African mining industry.

Shanghai Tyre profits soar

Shanghai Tyre and Rubber Co. Ltd's profits almost doubled in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year due to improved management, the Liberation Daily said on Saturday. The newspaper said the company earned a profit of 60 million yuan in the January-May period, but it did not indicate whether the profit was pre- or post-tax.

"Tyre and Rubber has achieved continual updating of its internal management processes, making it clearly stronger," the newspaper said. It said improvements in the overall China market had also helped the company. The company reported a net profit for 1996 of 109.128 million yuan against a loss in 1995 of 170.51 million yuan under international accounting standards.

Baobab share issue to fund buys

Investment company Baobab Solid Growth Limited said on Saturday it was consolidating its finance sector investments, increasing its stake in specialist financial services firm Theta Securities (Pty) Ltd to 100 per cent.

A company statement said Baobab was also upping its stakesin King Finance, Alternative Finance Ltd (Altfin) and Decimax. Baobab said it would issue 6,677,091 new ordinary shares to fund the investments. It willl ask shareholders to approve a name-change to ThetaLtd and apply to transfer its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to the Banks and Financial Services sector from the Investment Trust sector.

Migros gets Globus majority, makes offer

Swiss retailing cooperative Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund said it had made an agreed offer to buy 53.8 per cent of the voting capital of fellow retailer Magazine zum Globus. It was offering to buy all other outstanding shares at 1,180 Swiss francs per registered share and 1,080 francs per participation certificate, it said in a statement. "Migros made an offer to Magazine zum Globus's pool shareholders and board to buy 53.8 per cent of the voting capital or 28.6 per cent of the capital. Pool shareholders accepted the offer," the companies said in a joint statement.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.