After the SENS update last week - a mystery worthy of Scooby & the gang - ‘The Men in Green’ have announced the acquisition of an 80% stake in the BWG Group. 

BWG are a leading food retail and wholesale distribution company, with operations in Ireland and South West England servicing more than 1,100 stores (largely equivalent to the local KwikSPAR format), including 100 company-owned stores, with an annual turnover of approximately €1.2 billion. Significantly, the group own the rights to the SPAR brand in Ireland and South West England. The deal is worth €55m and expected to bring growth through synergies, new reach and rand hedged revenue streams. 

Comment: A bold, but carefully considered move under the new leadership of Graham O’Connor - taking SPAR into its next era of evolution as a solid, power player.

Unitrade’s Jad Pereira joins such luminaries as Craig Venter, Douglas Munatsi and Asher Bohbot in the Masters category of the Southern African division, if that’s the word, of the 2014 EY World Entrepreneur Awards. The award (their words, not ours) recognises entrepreneurs who build large organisations with integrity, add value to their markets, develop skills on a large scale and create sustainable jobs, celebrating the energy and ideas these award-winning entrepreneurs bring to advance our economies and generate positive change. As any one of our gimlet-eyed retail analysts could tell you, Unitrade is just such a one of these large organisations, building skills and growing jobs within and without its capacious walls among the independent traders it serves with such commitment. And as anyone who has worked with the J-Man knows, he is all about energy and ideas.

Comment: Nice one sir. Here’s to the next round of judging.

As you were doubtless aware, Premier Foods has dropped the “Foods” suffix from its name in order to herald the fact that it’s about more than boring old comestibles these days. Although its flurry of recent acquisitions – five bakeries from Star Bakeries in the Eastern Cape – does suggest somewhat that the apple falls not far from the tree, just yet. Other purchases in recent years include Super C (which makes us feel like Bruce Fordyce, circa 1983), Manhattan’s (which continues to give us the thrilling feeling that we’ve managed to stretch our pocket money just that little bit further) and Lil-Lets, (which…oh, never mind). So yes, at a stretch, the makings of a full-service FMCG supplier, with a greater-than-average interest in baked goods.

Comment: But then, everybody loves a slice of toast in the morning, so not a bad base from which to launch an all-out assault on the toiletry aisles.

RCL Foods, formerly Rainbow Chicken, who for some years have appeared to be the more organised older brother of the poultry industry, have surprised analysts, and not in a good way, with the issue of a cautionary trading statement ahead of their annual results coming out. Due to expenses associated with their acquisitions of Foodcorp Holdings and TSB Sugar, you see, they are expecting a slight loss rather than the usual profit come results time. Foodcorp, you see, in addition to owning brands such as Ouma rusks, Nola mayonnaise, Yum Yum peanut butter, Bobtail dog food and Pieman’s pies and pastries, also has a fair bit of debt kicking about, and it was this that the analysts had failed to take into account as they rubbed their hands and waited for the usual largesse to flow.

Comment: All of this notwithstanding, and given The Plucky One’s illustrious track record, says to us that now rather than later might be a good time to get into some Rainbow.

Rio Tinto Chair, the solidly-monikered Jan du Plessis, has been named as chairman designate of SABMiller, and – get this – he will be holding onto both positions once the full appointment goes through. This will raise the hackles of some in the investment community, which in its staid way believes that one job of this nature is quite enough. And in other news from the Big Feller, SABMiller is selling its 40% interest in Tsogo Sun, at a price some analyst consider to be slightly on the low side. The shares have been snatched up by a range of institutional investors, both here and abroad – and again, the diversity of these businesses is an issue for some. At the price, goes the thinking, a single big investor might have been the way to go.

Comment: Still, as Gandalf the Grey was often heard to remark, “Do not meddle in the affairs of multinational brewing giants, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”

Having fought tooth and nail against cheap imports from places like Brazil and India, the local industry is open to the idea of reduced tariffs on imported US poultry products, as a sweetener for the renewal of Uncle Sam’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Under Agoa, 95% of South Africa’s exports enter the US duty-free or at greatly reduced rates. Last year tariffs on imports from Brazil went up from 27% to 82%, and just last month, provisional duties ranging from 22% to 73% were slapped on frozen portions from the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. A number has yet to be arrived at on imports from the US, but everyone at the table is said to be beaming genially at this point.

Comment: Which is swell.

Bidvest’s new regime over at Adcock has not yet delivered the goods as the pharmaceutical contender readies the market for a loss at the three-quarter mark of this FY we are pleased to call 14. However, the new boys under Chairman Brian Joffe and CEO Kevin Wakeford are confident that greater things will surely follow, as the night the day.

The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) is of the view that calls for the boycott of the products from Israel infringe the rights of retailers to free trade, although it recognises the right of consumers to exercise freedom of choice particularly when informed by the clear marking of countries of origin on packs. Did we make a stand there? Thought not. Good.