While Namibians suffer under high banking charges of banks, First national Bank of Namibia announced good profits this week. Earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders increased by 28% to N$211 million until 30 June 2005. . Headline earnings increased to N$204 million and the Group’s cost to income ratio improved from 57% in the prior year to 51% in the current year. For comparative purposes, sustainable earnings, arrived at by adding back the merger-related expenses of N$10 million in the prior year, increased by 18%. The Group’s total assets exceeded the N$8 billion mark for the first time. Home loans grew by 16% and FNB Home Loans maintained a market share of over 45%. The home loan book grew to N$3.7 billion. The performance was driven by continued demand in the residential housing market, backed by an improvement in personal affordability. Higher purchase for vehicle was increased by consumer demand and corporate business, ensuring that WesBank has, for the first time, exceeded the N$1 billion mark, according to FNB.

Namibia’s karakul pelts known under the brand name Swakara increased by an average of 8.8% during an Agra pelt auction on 12 September in Copenhagen, Denmark. The total offer of 49,326 Swakara pelts was sold. Black pelts alone showed an increase of 10.1% in N$ compared with the April 2005 auction, according to Agra. The increase resulted in an average price of 241.90 Danish Krone (DKK) compared with the DKK 222.19 in April 2005. The average price of 255.01 Namibia dollars reflects an increase of 7.2% compared with the N$237.79 of the previous auction. The offer consisted of 39,708 black, 2,185 white and 2,075 miscellaneous pelts. The pelt price in US$ increased by 3%. The average price in April 2005 was US$38.50 compared to US$39.70 of this auction. The exchange rate this time had a negative effect of 2% on the price, according to Anke Erasmus of Agra.

The highest price ever paid for a Karakul pelt of N$506.02 was paid for a lot of 69 D Light Lyre Selected Super pelts which was purchased by Copenhagen Fur for an advertising project in Russia. The highest price in April 2005 was N$438.78. The highest price in Danish Krone of DKK 480, was also the highest ever paid in Krone for Swakara pelts. Some 24 buyers were active at the auction and they snatched up the entire offer. The major buyers were agents from the UK who purchased mainly for Russia, with Germany the second and Italy the third largest buyers. Buyers from Japan, Hong Kong, Greece and Turkey also participated in the auction.

The manager of the Agra Pelt Centre in Windhoek, Wessel Visser, expressed his satisfaction at the outcome of the auction-