VALUES AND PROFILE

	Our values guide behaviour to sustain excellent performance
	focus intensely on delivering service excellence to our customers; operate ethically, with integrity and care for others; operate safely and with care for the environment and the community; encourage innovation, nimbleness, teamwork and openness among our employees; pursue and reward performance excellence.

AECI is a specialty product and services Group of companies which provides value-adding solutions to customers through science, technology and industry knowledge. The focus is on serving the mining and manufacturing sectors and in 2009 the Group invested a further R1 billion of the R2 billion strategic capital programme in capital projects to enhance its future growth in these areas.

By the end of 2009, all significant projects were mechanically complete. Commissioning had been concluded or was in progress. Although the projects relate mainly to the mining sector, capital was also invested to augment the Group's ability to service consumer-driven markets.

AECI's core businesses serve global and regional markets. They are characterised by application know-how and service delivery, operate in niche markets, and are supported by leading international technology alliances.

Principal manufacturing sites are located in South Africa, near Johannesburg (explosives and mining services, provided by AEL Mining Services, and specialty chemicals provided by Chemical Services).

Chemical Services, which comprises 20 separate operations, also has a major site near Durban as well as a number of smaller sites country-wide. Its mining chemicals thrust is anchored in Senmin, which operates at Sasolburg in the Free State.

AEL Mining Services and Chemical Services have expanded their presence beyond South Africa. Both businesses continue to explore opportunities to take their products and service packages to niche markets in countries beyond their traditional areas of activity.

AEL Mining Services has a presence in 23 countries. It is well established across the African continent and, in line with the company's international strategy, business in its South East Asian hub made pleasing progress in 2009, particularly in Indonesia. In the year, the company's excellent technology and product position in initiating systems and bulk explosives enabled it to enter into mutually beneficial channel partnerships with leading regional explosives players in Europe and in South America.

Chemical Services has established a stable presence in Brazil and more acquisitions continue to be sought using the existing investment as a platform for growth. To an increasing degree, opportunities in other territories in Southern Africa and beyond are being explored.

In addition to its core businesses, the Group has a most valuable land asset, the release of which it manages carefully. The property activities are managed by Heartland and this company seeks to optimise the value of the property holdings surplus to AECI's operational requirements by selling land and by selectively investing in revenue-producing buildings in order to grow an existing portfolio of properties.

The land holdings are significant and are located in prime locations near Johannesburg and Cape Town. More than 2 000 hectares of excess land are available for redevelopment over the next 15 to 20 years for residential, commercial and industrial end uses and for leasing purposes.

SANS Technical Fibers, in the USA, is the Group's fourth business.

AECI has a total employee complement of about 6 450, many of whom are engaged in the Group's extensive sales, technical service and distribution networks.

The Company is domiciled in South Africa and is listed on the JSE Limited. At 31 December 2009, its market capitalisation was R7,4 billion.

BUSINESSES

AEL Mining Services is a leading developer, producer and supplier of commercial explosives, initiating systems and blasting services for mining, quarrying and construction markets in Africa and in chosen markets abroad. It is the largest supplier of explosives technology and initiating systems in Africa. The company comprises 16 businesses complemented by production facilities and offices throughout Southern Africa, Africa, and selected international regions in Europe, South America and South East Asia.

Chemical Services is the specialty chemicals component of the AECI Group. It is the largest specialty chemicals organisation in Southern Africa and comprises 20 autonomous business units, supplying a diverse range of specialty chemicals, raw materials and related services to a broad spectrum of industries. Chemical Services has sales, distribution, production and laboratory facilities located in key centres throughout South Africa and has also established production and distribution facilities in Southern Africa and abroad.

Heartland manages the land and property-based asset portfolio of the AECI Group. The focus is on development projects that can best realise value from land that has become surplus to AECI's operational requirements and, therefore, can be made available for alternative use. More than 2 000 hectares are available, mainly at Modderfontein, near Johannesburg in Gauteng, and at Somerset West near Cape Town, Western Cape. The company is also tasked with letting and managing buildings at Modderfontein, Potchefstroom in the North West, Somerset West, and at Umbogintwini, south of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.

SANS Technical Fibers at Stoneville in North Carolina (USA), manufactures and markets a range of high performance, specialty nylon industrial fibres for niche market applications in the USA, Asia and Europe.