The Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has ruled that Woolies may proceed with its takeover of Country Road if it so desires. Which it does, Country Road being a lynchpin if that’s the word or even a cornerstone, in The Dapper One’s plan to build a southern retail behemoth with a supply chain and economies of scale to take on the biggest global players. And the ambition doesn’t end there: they’re also eager to continue growing their market share back home, chipping cheekily away at the plinths of Pick n Pay and Checkers. So where to from here? Woolies currently owns 87.92% of Country Road stock. They’ve made a formal offer to existing shareholders to snaffle up the rest for A$17 per, and once they hit the magical 90% spot, the remaining shareholders are required to capitulate.

Comment: The rise of Woolies might well be the story of the next ten years, as the growth of Shoprite has been in the last ten.

This one might have slipped by us, and sorry if you’ve heard it before, but apparently Absa and Pick n Pay have cooked up a little scheme which allows Absa Rewards members to exchange Absa points for Smart Shopper points with – get this – 15% extra value. Who’s picking up the tab? Why Absa is, with Pick n Pay snapping up the additional footfall like nobody’s business, and crunching numbers furiously the better to obtain shopper insights. What’s in it for Absa? It’s a straight loyalty deal. Punters have been known to switch banks, you see, and once the savings account goes, the bond and the car loan are never far behind.

Comment: Pick n Pay, having spent R300bar setting up the scheme and having forked over R1billion in rewards (with some assistance, it must be said, from suppliers) will no doubt be loving the arrangement like a long deep drink of (free) mountain water.

Shalom, and Assalamu alaikum to you. There: approximately 0.5% of this story and 0.75% of it are made in Israel and Palestine, respectively, now go ahead and burn your monitor down, whatever your views. Or never open a Tatler again, see if we care. This, readers, is an approximation of the position in which most of our major retailers find themselves, assailed for the support of one side or another by virtue of where they get their avocados or their hummus. While groups like Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) are decrying Pick n Pay and Woolworths for their perceived support of Israel in these difficult days, Woolworths point out that less than 0.1% of their product is sourced from Palestine or Israel, with Pick n Pay suggesting similar numbers on their side. As both reasonably aver, all product is labelled with its country of origin and shoppers are free to make their choices, thus informed.

Comment: The conflict in the Middle East seems characterised by a deep and petrified cynicism on both sides, and this cynicism has found a home in the protesters back home.

No longer will the French sip moodily on Le Rooibos in afternoon apartments where they shouldn’t be. No more will good ol’ boys swill Rooibos Juleps from copper cups at the Kentucky derby. Not unless it was grown amid the answering krantzes of our own, dear Cederberg. Rooibos, you see, has been awarded geographic indicator status in a long-planned economic partnership agreement between southern African nations and the EU. And Honeybush and Karoo lamb will be given similar treatment. This after a couple of attempts on the rooibos trademark, by French and American producers of the increasingly popular, reputedly healthy yet oddly bland beverage. Also swept up in the agreement is 150,000 tons of sugar which local farmers will be able to send tariff free to the EU, an increase in tariff-free wine from 47 million litres to 110 million litres, and geographic indicator status for wines from Robertson, inter alia.

Comment: Excellent news. Let’s crack open that ‘57 Robertson we’ve been saving for something like this.

So Clover have issued a cautionary statement of negotiations, and so have Bowler Metcalf. But neither, rather coyly, are saying with whom. Clover, in the meantime, is concluding the purchase of DairyBelle’s yoghurt and ultra-high-temperature milk manufacturing, and marketing and distribution businesses for R125m and R30m respectively, as part of its move into high-margin value-added products like yoghurt and custard. Bowler Metcalf, for its part, are the manufacturers through their Quality Beverages division of such refreshers as Jive and Vimto. An acquisition of this division would restore it to its former glory while giving Clover a toehold in fizzy drinks. However, before you leap to any conclusions, there’s the merest whisper of a possibility that Clover could be interested in a JV or some other, more significant transaction with Nestlé.

Comment: But this is all speculation, you understand.

For the third time this year, inflation has exceeded the Reserve Bank’s 3-6% range, clocking in at 6.6% in June for the second month running, and justifying according to the twisted logic of these decisions the Reserve Bank’s move to up the repo rate to 5.75% last week. Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices were up by just 0.1% from May to June, for an unchanged rate for the year of 8.8%. And core inflation, which excludes food, petrol and electricity increased only marginally to 5.6%. Some economists believe that with a statistical adjustment relating to the recent decline in the cost of fuel, June might mark the year’s inflationary peak, while others are concerned that the effect of rand weakness has yet to make itself felt in the numbers.

Comment: As Mrs Doubtfire over at the Reserve Bank has remarked, her next moves will be highly data-dependent. Economists: predict at your peril.

As troubled™ Pommie retailer Tesco warns concerned punters of less than brilliant first half sales and profits, embattled™ CEO Philip “Philthy” Clarke will be handing the unusually sweaty baton over to Unilever wunderkind™ and turnaround specialist™ Dave “Dave” Clarke. Philthy will remain available to “support the transition”. Let’s see how that goes, eh.

In a field of 8,000 eager contenders, only 31 South African brands have the stuff to be considered truly iconic, according to market researchers Afrika Group, who define an iconic brand as one which all South Africans use loyally. Accordingly, they awarded the top four slots in their annual Iconic Brands Survey to All Gold tomato sauce, Koo baked beans, Huletts sugar and Albany bread, in order of iconicness.