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You may wish to pull out your well-thumbed copy of Investopedia for this one: Shoprite have apparently appointed a New York-based financial services company‚ BNY Mellon as the depositary bank for its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programme, enabling well-shod punters in the US to buy Shoprite stock over the counter as a means of boosting investment generally. Pick n Pay, in the meantime, have opened not one but two premium stores (in Cavendish and the V&A) as part of their ambitious six-month plan to open 64 stores by end Feb, with the addition of 2.8% more selling space. SPAR are gaaning Angola toe with the opening, next week, of its first store in Luanda with a local partner, and four are planned for Mozambique next year, which is what we call a stake in the ground. And finally from the retailers, in a very big and meaningful gesture, particularly at this time of year, Massmart, Woolworths, Shoprite and Clicks will close on Sunday to enable staff to observe Madiba’s funeral with their families.

Pioneer is looking for a vast new market in KZN with the opening of its R470m new Sasko bakery near Shakaskraal, where it will roll out 200, 000 loaves a day for the carbohydrate-obsessed people of that province. Unilever globally is trimming the dead wood, announcing that it will slash its offering of individual products by 30% by the end of 2014 in order to rationalise things in tough global economic conditions, shifting its focus to better performing brands including the 15 that each generate over €1bn in annual revenue. Bidvest are mounting a desperate, eleventh hour bid to buy a controlling interest in Adcock at R70 per share. Rooibos prices are heading northward to the tune of 15% in Jan as the inexplicable demand for little sticks you put in hot water rises, while Clover is making like Shoprite and also appointing BNY Mellon to sell its shares in the US. And finally, the Compo Tribunal will be deliberating next week on the fate of the deal which will see Nestle sell its Pfizer baby milk brands to Aspen.

And finally, some good news to end the year off: that trade deficit we were getting all Old Testament about a couple of weeks back turns out to have been a gigantic hoax. It’s all a bit complicated to go into in these slim columns, but basically our exports have been understated because SARS in its wisdom does not include trade with the Southern African Customs Union – viz., Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland – in its monthly reports. This will see the deficit narrow by somewhere in the region of 1-1.3%, which in these difficult times is what we call a winner.