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Solid if unspectacular interims from SPAR for the six months to March, with turnover up 7.6% to R25.6billion and profit before tax increased by 8.6% to R889.5million, and gross margin up to 8%. The big performers in an otherwise difficult ambit for the Group, and indeed all retailers, was TOPS, increasing its wholesale turnover 11.4% to R2.1billion and Build it recovering nicely with an 11.3% climb to R2.7billion. Trading space also increased modestly at 0.8%, with eight new SPAR stores opening, and 65 upgrading, in line with the focus on organic growth. More is naturally to be expected from TOPS, which may see 300 new outlets opening in the next six or seven years. And in order to attract and retain cash-strapped consumers, expect more in the way of price promotions, which currently account for about 20% of revenue.

Comment: Mr O’Connor has stepped in at a difficult time. But SPAR is a retailer with a sensible head on its cultural shoulders, and this will alleviate his burden somewhat.

Seven years ago, you may recall, smaller Shoprite shareholders were bridling, if that’s the word, at a Brait-backed attempt by Big Daddy Christo Wiese to buy them out at R25.50 per share. He did in fairness up his offer to R28, but those same little fluttery bits of ephemera are now going for R167 each, and the shareholders who remain are no doubt doubly relieved that the bid failed. And Mr W himself, it must be said, hasn’t done too shabbily on the shares he holds as The Big Red One’s single largest investor, with a personal fortune in excess of $4billion, and SA’s wealthiest individual. And his takeover of Pepkor, whose value soared tenfold since he pulled it off in 2004 for R2.1billion, hasn't hurt none either.

Comment: A man so wealthy, in fact, that he forgets about the 600,000 quid he has squirrelled away in the Louis Vuitton for a rainy day…

Much has been made of Woolworth’s global ambitions as it moves to acquire the direly-named Aussie retailer David Jones, for $2.35billion. How do I get a slice of a deal like that? you ask. You may wish to speak to some of these good folk, all of whom shared a reported $37million in related fees:
Rothschilds (merger and financial advice): $11million
Standard Bank (advice and transaction sponsorship): $8m
Webber Wentzel (legal advice): $1.2m
Gilbert + Tobin (Australian “legal” advice): $584,000

Comment: And then, being on something of a tear, they pretty much blew the rest on accountants (Ernst and Young), PR (Brunswick and Hintons) and Tequila.

Those Pioneer interims then: revenue from continuing operations up 9% to R8.8billion, which they modestly attribute to “increased selling prices, exports and sales mix.” Good sales in the beverage division as well as an improved performance from the soon to be unbundled Quantum Foods also came into play. HEPS, ever a reliable measure of a business’ profitability, were up a positively swashbuckling 41%, for 325c per share. And here’s the kicker: operating profit was up 43% to R855million, with margin up to 9.7% from 7.4% last year. On the downside, volume growth was up a scant 0.4%, which the cautious men and women at the top have acknowledged is cause for concern. And prospects for growth are a little muted, too, with small cautious acquisitions of privately held brands here and attractively priced businesses elsewhere in Africa the best prospect, according to those in the know.

Comment: Still, a notable achievement, given the state of the market and the travails of the agricultural sector on which Pioneer relies.

And on to Astral Foods, where revenues for the six months ending in March were up 11% to R4.7billion, due in no small part to a 12% increase in poultry revenue. And the great news for those who love a bit of chicken, or at least the shares attendant upon its production, is that a good maize crop is set to reduce input costs. The application, if successful, by the South African Poultry Association application to the International Trade Administration Commission for antidumping duties against the EU will also help to make the local market a more hospitable place for South African businesses, including Astral. And we’ve saved the best till last: operating profit was up 260% to R212.9million as the poultry unit recovered from last year’s losses.

Comment: Nice one, that plucky…oh, shut up.

Last week, we had occasion to report that retail sales, with 1% year-on-year growth for the month of May, weren’t all that. This week, we are equally sorrowed to inform you, that CPI, the measure of inflation, was up a touch to 6.1% from 6.0% in March, with core inflation (which excludes food, non-alcoholic beverages, petrol and energy) just a tad south of that at 5.5%. The good news is that the economists believe that it should hold steady for the rest of the year, which in turn means that the dear old SARB shouldn’t hike interest rates to much above 9.75%. On the downside, any uptick in food inflation hits the poorest of the poor hardest, especially at a time when there is already downward pressure on disposable household income.

Comment: But they are mere economists, after all, and have been known to be wrong from time to time.

Who, you might ask, and in all fairness, Lethabo Milling is a brand spanking new outfit, the first black-owned milling business in the game, if you’ll believe that. And they’ve just been spotted R9.8million by kindly uncles ABSA and Massmart to buy a mill in Ventersburg. Plus, they’ve been awarded an 830 ton a month contract to produce Massmart’s private label Econo Super Maize Meal, which is nice.

And in a shock move, Unilever founder Sir William Hesketh Lever has finally been bought out of the business, just 90 years after his death in 1925. The old feller had squirrelled away shares in various trusts, mainly, we suppose, to keep your grubby paws off of them. Unilever have now coughed up $1.2billion for these rights in a move to simplify the ownership structure and incidentally to bump up earnings per share to the tune of 2%.