Wahome Steel closed down again!
Guinness explores use of sorghum for products
GSE All-Share Index in slight gain
Wahome Steel closed down again!
Tema (Greater Accra) 06 September 2001 - Officials from the Office of the President and a Management Team of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) will visit the Wahome Steel Company at Tema to ascertain why the company has been closed down again.
A source close to Wahome said in Tema that the company, which reopened barely a week ago after it had been closed down for about three months, had its power disconnected for defaulting in the payment of a 1.3 billion cedi bill. It said before the shut down last March, the company, which produces nails and binding wires, had incurred a loss of about 76 billion cedis.
The source explained that the loss is as a result of a fall in foreign exchange rates, bank charges on loans and over invoicing among others issues. It said the company, which started with a Taiwanese group of shareholders as management allegedly indulged in over-invoicing of imported billets for the production of iron rods.
Items imported were written in Chinese, which they translated without cross checking the information. It said SSNIT advanced loans to the company, which were later, changed into an equity share of 49 per cent while the Taiwanese group and International Finance Company (IFC) held the remaining 51 per cent.
It said an officer was brought from SSNIT to manage the company in 1998 due to mismanagement until the current Managing Director, Mr Richard Asamoah Mensah took up his post about a year ago. Wahome, which had a workforce of about 900, now has about 380 workers whose salaries are in arrears for the past five months.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 September 2001 - A joint committee is to be set up soon to work out modalities for giving tax incentives to Guinness Ghana Limited to enable it to use an improved variety of locally grown sorghum - kapala - for its products.
The committee will comprise representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Trade and Industry, Internal Revenue Service, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service and Guinness. Vice President Aliu Mahama, who announced this in Accra on Thursday, said the incentives would be in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations.
He announced this when a six-member delegation from Guinness, led by Mr David Hampshire, Managing Director for Africa and Middle East, called on him at the State House. The delegation had asked the government for incentives, including tax exemptions, to complement investments the company will make in the project.
Alhaji Mahama said the substitution of malt with sorghum was in line with the government's policy to encourage industries to use local raw materials to facilitate economic growth. "The government is committed to assisting you to achieve this goal, but as far as taxes are concerned, the government can only give tax incentives that are consistent with WTO regulations," he said.
Alhaji Mahama said the substitution would save Ghana foreign exchange used to import malt and would also provide job opportunities.
Mr Hampshire said Guinness would invest about one million dollars to install a new plant and an additional 500,000 dollars to provide social amenities for communities that would cultivate the sorghum.
About 5,000 farmers in 50 communities are to cultivate kapala, developed by the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute at Nyanpkala, in an out-growers' scheme. Mr Hampshire, who is on a two-day visit, expressed satisfaction with the performance of Guinness Ghana, saying the stability of the cedi in recent times was good for its operations.
He will attend the company's annual general meeting, visit the Stock Exchange and interact with a cross section of business people. Mr Hampshire will also make donations to non-governmental organisations, including the Ghana Heart Foundation.
Guinness manufactures alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The delegation included Mr David Devlin, Managing Director of Guinness Ghana.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 September 2001 - The Pioneer Aluminium Factory (PAF) gained 45 cedis at Wednesday's mid-week trading session to push the GSE-All Share Index, the key measure of the Accra bourse, a modest 0.41 points to finish up at 953.22 points from the previous close of 952.81 points on Monday.
The market was, however, dull as investors continued to shy away from activities on the bourse. The 12 equities, which sold shares could only manage 22,700 shares compared to 27,700 shares on Monday.
The only price change was in the name of PAF. It was up 45 cedis to close the session at 800 cedis.
The total market capitalisation was up marginally at 3,858.87 billion cedis from 3,858.09 billion cedis on Monday. Below are the closing prices of the listed equities in cedis:
ABL 630
AGC 18,500
ALW 4,300
BAT 600
CFAO 60
EIC 2,900
FML 1,000
GBL 1,300
GCB 1,550
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 240
MLC 130
MOGL 20,000
PAF 800 +45
PBC 450
PZ 700
SCB 21,000
SPPC 356
SSB 2,300
UNIL 2,000
CMLT 430
GRi.../
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