Independent auditor’s report
| TO THE MEMBERS OF GRINDROD LIMITED |
| Report on the financial statements |
| We have audited the annual financial statements and group annual financial statements of Grindrod Limited which comprise the directors’ report, the balance sheet and consolidated balance sheet as at 31 December 2008, the income statement and consolidated income statement, the statement of changes in equity and consolidated statement of changes in equity and cash flow statement and consolidated cash flow statement for the year then ended, a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes, as set out in the annual financial statements and in the remuneration report. |
| Directors’ responsibility for the financial statements |
| The company’s directors are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and in the manner required by the Companies Act of South Africa. This responsibility includes: designing, implementing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies; and making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances. |
| Auditor’s responsibility |
| Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with
International Standards on Auditing. Those standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to
obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by the directors, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion. |
| Opinion |
| In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the company and the group as at 31 December 2008 and the results of their operations and their cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, and in the manner required by the Companies Act of South Africa. |
| Deloitte & Touche |
| Per A G Waller Partner |
| Durban 25 February 2009 |
| 2 Pencarrow Crescent Pencarrow Park La Lucia Ridge Office Estate La Lucia 4051 |
| National Executive: G G Gelink (Chief executive), A E Swiegers (Chief operating officer), G M Pinnock (Audit), D L Kennedy (Tax & legal and financial advisory), L Geeringh (Consulting), L Bam (Corporate finance), C R Beukman (Finance), T J Brown (Clients & markets), N T Mtoba (Chairman of the board), C R Qually (Deputy chairman of the board). |