There might be a few individuals in South Africa who are “angry” at Daimler and other international companies for their alleged “collaboration” with the apartheid government in the years before 1994, but the new South African government certainly isn’t. [Read on]

A United States court allowed a group action for damages brought by victims of apartheid against a select group of international companies – among them Daimler, Ford, GM, Barcalys Bank and Rheinmetall – for “supporting the apartheid regime”, the German business daily Handelsblatt reported here today. [Read on]

Rheinmetall AG, the listed German company holding the majority share in Denel Munitions, released its annual results for 2008 earlier this week.

Thanks to a strong performance by the division Rheinmetall Defence, one of Europe’s biggest suppliers of land forces weaponry and the division to which Denel Munitions belongs, the group’s annual results contained no nasty surprises.  

Rheinmetall Automotive, the other division in the company, had a less enjoyable time. 

While sales of the division Defence rose 3%, it dropped 9% in the division Automotive, enabling Defence to increase its share of group sales from 44% to 47%. 

“Our defence business is independent of general economic conditions, which pushes us over difficult situations. Therefore, we will push ahead with the internationalisation and growth of Defence,” said CEO Klaus Eberhardt.  

In short, good news for Denel HQ from Germany.

The ammo will be there. The pilots? Not so sure.  

The SA government asked two German companies to quote for high-tech ammunition for the 17 single-seat Gripen fighter aircraft SA had ordered from Saab in Sweden. 

Note that Rheinmetall is a German company (not Swiss, as mentioned in the article) and that Rheinmetall holds a majority share in Denel Munitions. Diehl is a German company based in Überlingen on the Lake of Constance. Given the link Rheinmetall has to Denel, Diehl is not likely to get this contract…

Rheinmetall Defence, one of Europe’s biggest suppliers of land forces weaponry and majority owner of Denel Munitions, has moved its head office to Unterlüss in the northwest of Germany, to be closer to NATO training bases and other military forces, Defense News reported. [Read on]

First published on my old blog on 13/8/2008. 

Last night I wrote about Denel and its successful boss Shaun Liebenberg, who recently joined German firm Rheinmetall as head of international business development (see article below), and this morning the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) reported on Rheinmetall’s financial results (first 6 months of this year). [Read on]

First published on my old blog on 13/8/2008. 

Denel made it onto the magazine Flight Global’s list of Top 100 aerospace manufacturers in the world, based on the previous year’s turnover. But only just – in 100th position.  [Read on]