Business Briefs

Nedbank buys back 3% of shares JOHANNESBURG – South African bank Nedbank has bought back 3 percent of its issued share capital on the open market for 1,471 billion rand, the company said on Friday.

Nedbank said in a statement it bought 13,4 million shares from available cash resources on the open market at an average price of 109,84 rand each. It said all future buybacks would also be funded from available cash.The repurchases were made between May 22 and June 30, and between August 24 and September 27.The highest price paid was R116,04 per share and the lowest price paid was R100,50.Nedbank said the buyback would have boosted headline earnings per share by one per cent, if it had been included in the interim results to end-June.Aquarius Platinum year net profit up LONDON – South African miner Aquarius Platinum said on Friday its annual net profit quadrupled to US$85,6 million, helped by a 37 per cent rise in production and booming precious metals prices.The company, which has most of its operations in South Africa and is listed in Johannesburg, Sydney and London, also said in a statement its revenues rose 92 per cent to US$427 million in the year to June 30.Production of platinum group metals (PGMs) was 447 693 ounces.PGMs, including palladium and rhodium, are used in electronics, catalytic converters and jewellery.Branson unveils Virgin spaceship NEW YORK – British billionaire Richard Branson unveiled here Thursday a mockup of his Virgin Galactic civilian spaceship, vowing to do his part to make space travel a reality for millions of people.SpaceShipTwo, a vehicle being built in California’s Mojave Desert, has technology that could also be used in airplanes and could eventually allow people to travel between London and Sydney in half an hour, Branson said at a news conference.Branson’s Virgin Galactic subsidiary, which wants to immediately build five of the spaceships, said the maiden voyage was planned for early 2009.Japan’s economy crawls out of lull TOKYO – Japan’s economy made fresh headway in August out of its deflationary torpor with unemployment close to an eight-year low and consumer prices and industrial output rising, the government said Friday.Japan’s jobless rate held steady at 4,1 per cent last month, just above May’s trough of four per cent, which was the lowest since April 1998, figures from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.The jobless total was 2,72 million, down 120 000 from a year earlier.3 HP execs take centre stage WASHINGTON – A trio of top Hewlett-Packard Co.executives, two of them newly resigned, are occupying centre stage in the drama around the technology company’s spying probe that targeted HP directors and journalists with surveillance and subterfuge.Company chairman and CEO Mark Hurd, ousted chairwoman Patricia Dunn and Anne Baskins, whose resignation as general counsel was announced just hours before, appeared at a congressional hearing Thursday as lawmakers delved into the scandal that has roiled the Silicon Valley icon.None wanted to assume blame for the investigation, designed to trace a boardroom leak, that used a network of private detectives who impersonated the targeted individuals to obtain their phone records, snooped through their trash and physically spied on them.Nampa-AFP-APIt said all future buybacks would also be funded from available cash.The repurchases were made between May 22 and June 30, and between August 24 and September 27.The highest price paid was R116,04 per share and the lowest price paid was R100,50.Nedbank said the buyback would have boosted headline earnings per share by one per cent, if it had been included in the interim results to end-June.Aquarius Platinum year net profit up LONDON – South African miner Aquarius Platinum said on Friday its annual net profit quadrupled to US$85,6 million, helped by a 37 per cent rise in production and booming precious metals prices.The company, which has most of its operations in South Africa and is listed in Johannesburg, Sydney and London, also said in a statement its revenues rose 92 per cent to US$427 million in the year to June 30.Production of platinum group metals (PGMs) was 447 693 ounces.PGMs, including palladium and rhodium, are used in electronics, catalytic converters and jewellery.Branson unveils Virgin spaceship NEW YORK – British billionaire Richard Branson unveiled here Thursday a mockup of his Virgin Galactic civilian spaceship, vowing to do his part to make space travel a reality for millions of people.SpaceShipTwo, a vehicle being built in California’s Mojave Desert, has technology that could also be used in airplanes and could eventually allow people to travel between London and Sydney in half an hour, Branson said at a news conference.Branson’s Virgin Galactic subsidiary, which wants to immediately build five of the spaceships, said the maiden voyage was planned for early 2009.Japan’s economy crawls out of lull TOKYO – Japan’s economy made fresh headway in August out of its deflationary torpor with unemployment close to an eight-year low and consumer prices and industrial output rising, the government said Friday.Japan’s jobless rate held steady at 4,1 per cent last month, just above May’s trough of four per cent, which was the lowest since April 1998, figures from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.The jobless total was 2,72 million, down 120 000 from a year earlier.3 HP execs take centre stage WASHINGTON – A trio of top Hewlett-Packard Co.executives, two of them newly resigned, are occupying centre stage in the drama around the technology company’s spying probe that targeted HP directors and journalists with surveillance and subterfuge.Company chairman and CEO Mark Hurd, ousted chairwoman Patricia Dunn and Anne Baskins, whose resignation as general counsel was announced just hours before, appeared at a congressional hearing Thursday as lawmakers delved into the scandal that has roiled the Silicon Valley icon.None wanted to assume blame for the investigation, designed to trace a boardroom leak, that used a network of private detectives who impersonated the targeted individuals to obtain their phone records, snooped through their trash and physically spied on them.Nampa-AFP-AP