Excellent work from the men in the green striped shirts in the first six months of the FY we are pleased to call 13. Turnover up 13.6% to R21.7bilions, with operating profit up 10.8% to R782.8million, where operating expenses increased by 11.5%, with fuel costs up 38% as a major contributing factor. That turnover growth, it is worth noting, in comparison to 13.2% over at Shoprite and 8.6% down at Pick n Pay. Serious performers for the group were TOPS, with turnover growth of 19.7% to R1.6billion and the opening of 25 new stores and Build it, up 19.2% to R2.25billion, while SPAR’s core wholesale operation was up a respectable 12.1% with the opening of 12 new stores. And other ventures are coming along nicely – SPAR now have 16 in-store pharmacies and 13 of the new SaveMor (hard discounter) stores now up and running. SPAR are sanguine about their prospects for the next six months, during which, the odd Mayan apocalypse aside, they do not expect market conditions to change materially.

Comment: A great set of numbers for the quiet man of SA retail.

Having dragged their heels on centralised distribution, Pick n Pay are flailing away at it now like a retailer possessed, opening the second big RDC at Phillipi in Cape Town. And like Longmeadow before it, Phillipi is greener than thou – daylight harvesting which will reduce the plant’s power consumption during the day by up to 50% and the adoption of various of Pick n Pay’s 12 strategies for the management of energy, water, refrigeration, and the reduction in building materials. Phillipi, which occupies 50,445m² of land formerly belonging to the Indian Ocean, employs about 342 staff and will help the (recently) embattled retailer to operate more cost-effectively, offering punters better on shelf availability while reducing inventory, preventing congestion at the back door and lowering transport costs in the dear old supply chain. By October Phillipi will be moving 400,000 cases of groceries a week in comparison with Longmeadow’s million.

Comment: Pick n Pay has earmarked R2bilion for the move to centralised distribution, with two DCs now down and two to go.

A more modest six months for Clicks than those to which we have become accustomed since Mr Kneale took over: Group turnover up 6.8% to R7.7billion to February, with Clicks itself climbing 9.6% to R5.3billion, The Body Shop up 14.5% to R67.4million, and UPD just 5% to R2.9billion, despite the addition of 30 new Clicks stores and 29 new dispensaries. The reason for the muted results, as suggested by Mr Kn. himself, is the economic headwinds faced by the middle income South African consumer in Clicks’ target market. But not to worry, he says – Clicks has increased the number of special offers, with a resulting increase in both volume and market share in the health and beauty segments. This has obviously had its impact on the bottom line, with trading profit growing more slowly at 5.7% to R363million, or 79% of the Group total of R461million. Expansion continues apace, however, with Clicks on target to achieve its 500 stores by 2015.

Comment: So really, no worries there, just not the stellar stuff we have seen in recent years.

Frozen hake specialist I&J proved to be a nice little earner for AVI in the six months to December, posting operating profits of R100million off sales of R750million and contributing a healthy 12% to Group operating profit. It was not ever thus – between 2005 and 2006, this contribution swung wildly from 16% to 6%, and in 2010 alone dropped from 24% to 12%, reflecting the capricious and shifting conditions out there in the wide blue yonder, and no doubt causing palms to sweat in the boardroom come results time. But moving from a mainly retail offering into food service and whole fish seems to be bringing some stability to the mix. Of concern, however, remains the government’s quota system, which seems to be looking at different ownership structures and penalising the bigger players. So altogether, a perennially profitable but variable business for AVI.

Comment: Which has led certain irresponsible observers to speculate that it might be for sale at the right price. Not us, though.

Look, this really has not much at all to do with moving stuff off shelves, which is the business we’re really interested in, but Adcock Ingram have appeared often enough on these ivory pages to be of interest whatever they do, so we’ll tell you anyway: they have gone and opened Africa’s only integrated medical-grade plastics and pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, in the quaintly-named Aeroton industrial area near the town of Johannesburg, churning out such tempting goodies as filled drip bags, ampoules and dialysis solutions. The money for this was hauled unceremoniously out of the R1.5bn war chest put aside for manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities and the general confoundment of rival Aspen. Expect a boom of sorts in that sector: the government has recently announced the designation of certain pharmaceutical products for domestic production.

Comment: To the benefit, no doubt, of local security of supply and of the export market into Africa.

What the devil is the PMI, you ask, and we’re more than happy to tell you. It’s the measure of what factories are buying in order to make stuff out of, and naturally a key leading indicator for activity in the manufacturing sector. What we’re less happy to report is that it fell 1.4 index points to 53.7 in April from 55.1 in March, leaving it still in positive territory but only just. This, says the Manufacturing Circle, which represents SA’s major manufacturers, reflects the fact that the ability of our manufacturers to compete in overseas markets is “under severe pressure due to a domestic policy environment that undermines the competitiveness of local manufacturers”. For eg, price increases such as electricity tariffs, port charges, toll fees and the cost of natural gas. Cheap Chinese imports are also an issue, where these bits of low-cost tat receive unfair incentives from Beijing and edge our better-quality local stuff off the shelves.

Comment: Making something of a mockery of the free market from which retailers benefit but manufacturers it appears don’t.

PepsiCo, which makes that other sugary brown liquid, and pharma giant Pfizer have, like the more suit-wearing of your acquaintances, built a home for themselves on LinkedIn, the timewasting social networking site for people who are way too busy and important to waste time on Facebook. Specifically, they have been trialling LinkedIn’s new Talent Pipeline service, which enables recruiters to manage recruitment leads in one place, a further threat to the embattled recruitment business.