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OK, we realise that The Big Fella is not, strictly speaking, one of our own. But Walmart sneezes, and the whole world stocks up on bulk tissues. And this week, it sneezed mightily with the announcement that CEO Mike Duke has resigned after a five year tenure that has seen the world’s biggest business decline in both share price and reputation, with predatory labour practices at home and bribery abroad in the news almost daily. The Duke will be replaced by Doug McMillon, a mere stripling at 47 and current head of the international division, where inter alia, he presided over the acquisition of 51% of Massmart, and has presided over a pleasing spate of growth at a time when the home business is facing headwinds. In classic Walmart style, McMillon started off lugging cases in a DC before beginning his measured climb to ultimate power.

Comment: With his understanding of the SA business, McMillon’s appointment could presage interesting times for Massmart.

Just to pluck a number out of the ether, Pick n Pay has given itself six years to re-establish itself as SA’s number one retail brand, according to Chairman Ackerman the elder, who by then, we claim with confidence, will be an unusually astute and sprightly 88 years of age. A big ask, yes, with Shoprite rampant and Woolies resplendent right now. But Chairman A the E believes that it can be done by revisiting the four legs of the original table: the consumer on top, sound administration, the right merchandise and social involvement. In this later regard, Pick n Pay has involved itself in the relief efforts in the Philippines typhoon disaster, an event which touched Mr Ackerman deeply.
And in not unrelated news, the Big Blue is sponsoring the annual Wavescape surfing film festival. 

Comment: And if that’s not cool we don’t know what is.

Shoprite (the retailer, not the Group) asserted their dominance at the 2013 Times / Sowetan Retail Awards, garnering (if that’s the word) the Grand Prix for the fifth year in a row. Here we’re going to cheat a little and quote verbatim from boyishly handsome Marketing Director Neil Schreuder. Over to you, Neil: “The Shoprite brand's positioning is built on its commitment to "lower prices that you can trust always". Shoprite is the low price champion and low price leadership is its strategic point of differentiation.  It aims to ensure that South Africans from all walks of life can afford to have their food needs met regardless of their income level. Grocery shoppers literally interact with the brand every week and consumers can feel the difference at the till when buying their weekly groceries.”

Comment: Good work, the Big Red One. Named (by us) after a famous infantry division, Shoprite achieves what it does by a dogged adherence to the basics of good retail practice while keeping a strategic eye on the distant bridgehead.

As certain of our retailers exercise discretion vis-á-vis Africa’s most populous market, other businesses are jumping right in. This week, Nampak announced that it would be purchasing Alucan Packaging, a Nigerian beverage canner, and getting an option to acquire a leading rigid plastics company. These transactions come in jointly at a hefty $301m (do the maths) to be financed through a combo of cash and debt. Alucan comes complete with a spanking new, aluminium beverage-can line capable of producing up to 1bn cans a year, and joins a similarly-sized Luandan facility in Nampak’s African firmament. Such transactions are not geared at short term profit; rather, they are the building blocks of long term African growth.

Comment: How long have we been saying now, to anyone who will listen, that the supply-chain and its ancillary businesses are where the real tom is to be made in Africa? Don’t mention it.

We of the industry will nod sagely when you mention the name of the Anglo Dutch grocery giant in casual conversation. But while punters the world over were raised on Unilever brands, it is far from certain that they will remember Le Grand Bleu’s elaborately filigreed logo or even know its storied name. All this is about to change, as long predicted by we of the Tatler, with the launch of Unilever – the business’ first consumer-facing marketing campaign. The focus will be on the good all of the Unilever brands do in the world, like Lifebuoy’s handwashing initiative and Dove’s positive body image campaign. The overall focus will be on establishing trust in the parent brand and establishing it as a signifier of sustainable living – while encouraging consumers to do their bit too.

Comment: This is what we in the industry call a BFD, or very big deal, and we look forward to the campaign finding its way to these shores from the UK, where it is launching.

Having snapped up Foodcorp and snacked on Zambeef, Rainbow Chickens – now trading under the leaner, hungrier nom de poulet RCL Foods – is acquiring TSB sugar from their mutual parent (or “dad”) Remgro, for something in the region of R4bn, in the form of 231m Rainbow shares. This by way of advancing the plan to turn RCL into a diversified food giant less reliant on the well-documented vagaries of the chicken market. The merger will create a R15bn business, smaller certainly than Tiger Brands at R58bn, but within range of AVI and Pioneers, at numbers two and three respectively. The deal is also an expression of Remgro’s move to shift everything into its proper silo. Next up, says analysts, RCL’s Vector Logistics could be traded with Grindrod for its holdings in the Senwes and NWK agribusinesses.

Comment: A serious shuffle of a very nicely furnished deck then.

Cheer up, you lot: if we’re to believe the economists over at … what? What’s so funny? … oh, yes, we see … ohohohoho …. hah hah hah … oh my goodness … “believe economists!” … ahahahaha … anyway, the economists at BER reckon that sales growth for this final quarter of the year, we have no choice but to call 2013, is up just a smidge from the same quarter of last year, when things slumped to just 2.3% growth year on year. This means that the tills could ring with a note of slightly more merriness than you were expecting, apparently, helped along by the slight decline in unemployment from an official 25.6% to 24.7% in the third quarter, and a marginal reduction in the price of fuel.

Comment: Alternatively, say the economists, sales will definitely decline, or increase dramatically.

Like our headline, this goes somewhat against the natural order of things, so brace yourselves, but the price of Aspens shares have dipped a little on the news that GlaxoSmithKline, still too cheap to acquire punctuation, is reducing by a third its stake in the business. As it will use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes” it rather argues that GSK’s stock is the one which should be heading south, but anyway.

A quick squizz at those results, shall we? Sales up 19.1% to R27bn for the year to end September, but operating profit down 11.6% to R3.1bn due in part to losses at the newly acquired Dangote business in Nigeria and in part to the worrying state of the economy back home, with its high unemployment, low rate of growth and edgy consumers. The company is targeting R500m in savings over the next three years, and retrenchments are not ruled out.