2012 SA car of the year winner Hyundai Elantra

It's official - the Hyundai Elantra 1.8 GLS is South Africa's Car of the Year for 2012.


The South African Guild of Motoring Journalists kept its guests biting their nails until late on Thursday night at its COTY banquet in Midrand.


The decision follows a long and complex judging process, which included an initial vote for ten finalists followed by a thorough two-day evaluation of those finalists by 30 jury members at the Gerotek test facility near Pretoria.


The winner had to beat nine other finalists in the form of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 125 kW MultiAir Distinctive; Audi A6 3.0T TDI Quattro S tronic; Citroen DS4 THP 200 Sport; Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI Trend Powershift; Kia Picanto 1.2 EX; Mercedes Benz SLK 350; Peugeot 5008 2.0 HDi Active; Suzuki Kizashi 2.4 SDLX and VW Jetta 1.4 TSI 118 kW Highline.


APPLES WITH APPLES


Despite what some detractors say, this competition does not directly compare each ten finalists with each other - given that they come from all walks of automotive life. Instead, the jury evaluates each vehicle on its own merit and bearing in mind what it brings to its particular class.


Even the evaluation at Gerotek is set-up with this in mind, allowing the individual vehicles to be evaluated under the conditions they would be expected to perform under. Routes are designed to evaluate 4x4s or sports cars, as the average consumer would use them.


The competition's convenor, Mark Jones, explains the purpose of the final testing days: “It allows Jury members to pay close attention to the cars' aesthetics, build quality and ergonomics, while considerations based on perceptions of value for money, cost of a spares' basket, safety features and environmental friendliness can be taken into account before scoring the top ten.


“Fuel consumption figures are also available as is a range of data that must be considered before pronouncing on which vehicle is the best of the best.”


Watch this space for more information on how the vehicles were scored and what the runners up were.


Source : iol.co.za
Tags : 2012 car of the year, south africa car of the year, samgj 2012,Hyundai Elantra 1.8 GLS

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Petrol price vs inflation in SA

Rising petrol prices alone won’t induce a rate hike but higher than expected public-sector wage rises may well be justification for one rise by 55c-60c/l in early April as the combined effect of the hike in the fuel levy and rising rand oil prices is felt.


Fortunately, fuel prices appear to be the only recent negative surprise for inflation. The other bug bear for SA inflation, food prices, shows signs of moderating.
Consumer inflation fell to 6,1% y/y in February (from 6,3% y/y in January) due to a substantial 0,6% m/m fall in food prices. As a result, annual food inflation has fallen to 10,1% from a recent peak of 11,6% y/y in December 2011. This ties in with recent comments from food retailers, who pointed to softer food inflation of late.


In recent years there have been big administered price hikes, where price increases have been set to fund capital expenditure, and with little regard to the inflation target. This has pushed through inflationary pressures.


However, there have been several positive developments of late. The ports regulator granted a below-inflation tariff hike of 5%, which will reduce import costs for consumer goods. Though the reduction in the Gauteng e-tolls is negative for the development of toll roads in SA, it is positive for the inflation outlook. Lastly, electricity regulator Nersa’s decision to reduce Eskom’s mandated price hike for the 2012/2013 financial year from 25% to 16% will reduce average inflation in the next 12 months by 0,2%-0,4%.


Put this all together and it seems there is little reason for the Reserve Bank to think about hiking interest rates. Unfortunately, the devil is very much in the detail.


As Bank governor Gill Marcus noted in a recent address, core inflation — which excludes petrol, electricity and food — has been ticking up. According to Marcus, this suggests “inflation is becoming more generalised, and may reflect the emergence of demand pressures. This is something that the Bank will monitor very carefully.”


As a result, she has left the market speculating about rate hikes.


An imminent rate hike is unlikely. Global growth is uncertain and local demand is slowing. According to the retail liaison committee, apparel sales growth slowed a bit in February and furniture and appliance sales growth was down quite dramatically.


While there is no doubt a strong element of a post-December 2011 hangover, the bottom line is that consumer spending is slowing. Though average inflation looks likely to be a little lower than previously forecast, it will still be at least one percentage point higher than it was in 2011. Add lower nominal wage growth this year — driven by government — and real income growth will be lower in 2012 than it was last year.


I don’t think, therefore, the Bank is going to hike interest rates any time soon.
But the Bank has hinted at a change of course in recent weeks. Marcus began to build the case for higher rates, citing the dangers of inflation to the poor: “It is difficult to find examples in history where sustained economic growth and high inflation went hand in hand. But it is easy to find glaring examples of high inflation contributing to socioeconomic dislocation.”


Several people have suggested that government will not be able to contain wage hikes ahead of this year’s ANC conference. But this may not necessarily be a bull case for the retail sector. While the rising petrol (or diesel) price will not alone induce a rate hike, higher than expected public-sector wage increases may be justification for higher interest rates.


Source : fm.co.za
Tags : petrol price, rise in petrol price, inflation, inflation South Africa


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SA life cover sector grows

Healthy life industry attracts new premium income

The South African life insurance industry held record assets of R1.45-trillion at the end of 2011, an increase of 13% from the R1.28-trillion held at the end of 2010.

South African long-term insurance industry on Tuesday, Peter Dempsey, deputy CEO of the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA), said long-term insurance industry assets continued to exceed liabilities by more than triple the legal reserve buffer required in 2011, despite the impact of the global financial crisis, extreme market volatility, and the economic hardships felt by South African consumers.

"The life industry remains strong and healthy and well positioned to honour future benefit payments to policyholders. As custodian of a significant portion of the country's long-term savings pool, this is critically important."

Dempsey also points out that the 2011 long-term insurance industry statistics are the most representative ever, with the majority of non-traditional life licence holders (life companies that do not provide risk benefits) having submitted their figures for inclusion.

Until 2010, sales statistics for the long-term insurance industry were based only on data received from life companies that were previously members of the Life Offices' Association (LOA).

Life insurers experienced a surge in demand for life insurance products in 2011. Dempsey reports that the industry attracted R82-billion in new individual premiums last year, compared to R66-billion in 2010.

"If we exclude the contributions from the linked insurers that submitted figures for the first time in 2011, the industry recorded an inflation beating 9% growth in new individual premiums last year."

In addition to taking out new policies, policyholders also maintained and increased recurring premiums for individual in-force policies. Total recurring premiums for existing business increased by 8% from R72.8-billion in 2010 to R78.8-billion in 2011.

Individual business typically consists of endowments, retirement annuity funds, living annuities and compulsory annuities, as well as life, disability, dread disease and income protection policies.

Recurring premium retirement annuities (RAs) proved most popular last year. According to Dempsey, consumers committed new monthly premiums worth R1.5-billion to RAs, compared to R1.1-billion in 2010 - a 31% increase.

He said surprisingly, new lump sum investments into RAs dropped sharply by 33% from R7.5-billion in 2010 down to R5-billion in 2011.

"It would appear that consumer confidence in RAs requiring monthly premiums has returned since the industry implemented a number of significant reforms aimed at providing RA fund members with greater value. In 2011 we noticed a strong shift away from single premium RA fund policies towards recurring premium RAs."

Dempsey commented that it was encouraging to see consumers opting for disciplined saving vehicles like RAs when putting aside money for their retirement.

Dempsey says further good news is the healthy increase in uptake of risk policies. Risk policies provide cover for events such as death, disability, and dread diseases.

Independent research conducted for ASISA in 2010 showed that the average South African income earner was underinsured by R600 000 in the event of death and by R900,000 in the event of disability. In total, South Africans were underinsured by R18.4-trillion in 2010.

In the second half of 2011, the industry attracted new recurring risk policy premiums of R4.5-billion. This represents an increase of 21% over the first half of last year (R3.7-billion), although only a 6% increase over the second half of 2010 (R4.3-billion).

Dempsey explained that ASISA started separating new recurring premiums into risk business and savings business for the first time in the second half of 2010, allowing for more meaningful analysis. Previously the premium inflow statistics for risk policies and savings policies were lumped together. The first full year comparison will therefore be possible only at the end of 2012.

In 2011, the life industry paid out more than R216.7-billion in benefits to policyholders, beneficiaries, and pension fund members as a result of death and disability claims, maturity pay-outs and pension, annuity and other payments. This is 14% more than in 2010, when total benefit payments amounted to R190.7-billion.

Of these benefit payments, R17.3-billion was paid to the beneficiaries of deceased individual policyholders and R10.7-billion to beneficiaries of Group death cover. A total of R8-billion was paid in disability cover from individual policies and Group cover.

Dempsey said without these benefit payments South African families would have been R216.7-billion poorer. "The reality is that these benefit payments represent the real value add of the life industry. Without the financial protection offered by life and disability cover, many families would have been left destitute last year."

The value of surrendered investment policies increased by a slight 2% from R36.7-billion in 2010 to R37.5-billion in 2011. A policy is surrendered when the policyholder stops paying premiums and withdraws the fund value before maturity.

"Considering the financial strain that many South African consumers continued to experience last year, the low increase in surrendered policies is very good news."

According to Dempsey, the statistics for surrendered policies need to be seen in the context of the total value of in force policies - estimated to be a large portion of the life industry's R1.45-trillion assets - and not just the new business written in 2011.

The number of lapsed policies increased by 13% in 2011.

A lapse occurs when the policyholder stops paying premiums before the fund value exceeds the unrecovered costs meaning that the paid-up (or surrender) value is zero. In the case of pure risk policies, a lapse causes no immediate financial loss for the policyholder, as there was no policy value. The policyholder does, however, lose valuable life or disability cover, which might not be available at the same premium again.

In 2011, a total of 5.9-million policies were lapsed, 3.3-million first year policies and 2.6-million policies in their second year. The average monthly premium of policies lapsed was R89.75.

The lapse rate should be compared to new recurring premium business written over the same period. While new recurring premiums for 2011 amounted to R15.6-billion, only R2.8-billion of first year premiums was lapsed.

Source: businesslive.co.za
Tags : life cover insurance,insurance news,life cover sector, south africa economy

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Old Mutual sights Africa expansion opportunities

Insurer Old Mutual fired the starting gun on an ambitious African expansion strategy, encouraged by the continent's robust economic growth, as it reported a 17 percent jump in its 2011 earnings.

London-listed Old Mutual, an Anglo-South African financial conglomerate with insurance, banking and asset management businesses across four continents, has identified “exciting growth opportunities” in Africa, it said on Friday.

Africa

“We have thought for many years whether we should push more into Africa, and up until this point we've been happy with the assets we've got,” Old Mutual Chief Executive Julian Roberts told reporters on a conference call.

“Now we think it is the right time to grow our business in Africa - you just have to go round the various African countries to see how it's very different from what it was, say five years ago.”

Old Mutual, a leading South African insurer and owner of the country's fourth biggest lender, Nedbank, wants to grow in the major markets of east and sub-Saharan Africa, building on its acquisition last month of Nigerian insurer Oceanic Life.

Roberts declined to provide further detail, but said Old Mutual aims in time for its shares to be seen by investors as a proxy for the African economy.

“It's quite true, I would like Old Mutual to be known as the company you invest in ... for that African exposure,” he said.

Old Mutual, which listed in London in 1999 and launched a series of overseas takeovers aimed at reducing its dependence on its historic home of South Africa, also reported a 2011 operating profit of 1.61 billion pounds ($2.6 billion).

That was just shy of the 1.63 billion pounds expected by analysts in a company poll.

The figure includes Old Mutual's Nordic life businesses, sold in December as part of a retrenchment plan aimed at soothing investor fears the group's sprawling structure had dulled its focus and held back its share price.

As part of the retrenchment strategy, Old Mutual last year also offloaded its US life unit and aims to float its US asset management arm and sell its 52 percent Nedbank stake.

The disposals will help the company repay 1.7 billion pounds of debt by the end of 2012, it said on Friday, up from an original target of 1.5 billion pounds.

“At the strategic level, Old Mutual delivered in spades in 2011, for which we give the group considerable credit,” Shore Capital analyst Eamonn Flanagan wrote in a note.

Old Mutual shares were up 1 percent at 164.35 pence by 11:45 SA time, outperforming a 0.2 percent rise in the Stoxx 600 European insurance index.

The stock has risen 20 percent since the start of the year, reflecting optimism over Old Mutual's restructuring, easily outpacing the index's 13 percent increase.

Excluding the Nordic businesses, the company had a 2011 profit of 1.52 billion pounds, an increase of 14 percent.

Old Mutual is paying a total dividend for 2011 of 5 pence per share, an increase of 25 percent, as well as a previously announced special payout of 1 billion pounds, or 18 pence per share, funded by the Nordic disposal. - Reuters

Source : iol.co.za
Tags : Old Mutual, African expansion, new economic model, africa growth, Julian Roberts, South African financial company

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Gauteng E-tolling protests continues

E-tolling... should be condemned as it represents yet another tax on all the citizens of this country," PSA deputy general manager Manie de Clercq said in a letter to the Congress of SA Trade Unions.

"The rationale for [the] e-tolling system is unclear in that all motorists are paying a fuel levy which can be efficiently utilised in upgrading and maintaining our public roads."

De Clercq said trade unions were "important vehicles" in improving the socio-economic status of their members through opposition to labour brokers.

"A united voice should speak out against labour broking, which violates workers' right to dignity."

Cosatu's protest is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Cosatu's Gauteng secretary Dumisani Dakile said on Monday that workers could not be dismissed for taking part in the protest.

"The strike is protected... and we have complied with the legal requirements," he said.

"We are even calling on employers to join the march and not threaten workers."

Cosatu expected at least 100 000 people to take part in 32 marches across the country. The major event would take place in Johannesburg's central business district.

Tolling of 185km of the N1, N3, N12 and R21 around Johannesburg and Tshwane is expected to start on April 30.

Motorcycles with e-tags will pay 20c/km and those without 38c. Light motor vehicles will pay 30c and 58c respectively, and non-articulated trucks 75c and R1.45.

Cosatu expected its provincial bodies, essential services workers, Eskom workers, teachers, pupils, and other unions to join the strike.

Source : timeslive.co.za
Tags : Gauteng, e-toll, e tolling , e-tolling protests , Cosatu, public service

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