Shoprite and furniture manufacturer Steinhoff are looking at doing some sort of deal according to our shifty, unshaven colleagues in the financial press. And should this happen, it will be huge – Steinhoff is an employer of 45 000 people globally, and is invested in major markets such as China, Germany and the UK – where perhaps it might allow Shoprite a toehold. Steinhoff has been looking at owning a retail outlet back here in SA, something the boys in red would be able to provide, through OK Furniture – doing very nicely in an otherwise depressed market – and Checkers Hyper. And together, they have a market capitalisation of around R55 billion, of which Shoprite’s share is just over R33 billion. A share swap might see Mnr Wiese selling part or all of his stock for Steinhoff stock, although Mnr Wiese, understandably at this delicate stage of proceedings which may or may not be underway, is not saying. A caveat – there are some mutterings that Mr Basson is less than enamoured of the deal – and that it was his reluctance which saw the Massmart merger scuppered back in ’05.

Comment: A massive shakeup, potentially, and perhaps the beginning of the fulfillment of Shoprite’s dream of being a truly global player.

Metcash, Metcash, Metcash. After a news drought of five-odd years and more, we just love typing that word. Metcash. Where to start? First, of course, the appointment of Mr Dodson as CEO apparent, with all that this might mean for the sleeping giant of wholesale. Then the coy suggestion last week by Mr Dos Santos that Metcash may consider listing in the next couple of years in order to raise a bob or two. Metcash was last traded on the JSE back in ‘05, before it disposed of some of its South African operations to Metcash Trading (Aus). Finally, the big box boys have been taking on the bullying monopolists of FIFA – unsuccessfully, sadly – in their attempt to name an item of confectionary after a date on the calendar which may not be printed in any form, but comes before 2011.

Comment: Metcash are going to be the most exciting thing happening for the next five years, and we’re looking forward to all sorts of fireworks.

There’s a subtle war of words in the media between Clicks and the independent pharmacies with which it competes. Recently, we reported that USAP, a grouping of independent pharmacies, had released results of a survey which suggested that the punters are more interested in convenience and tender words when it came to their pharmaceutical requirements than they were in price. Now Clicks skipper David Kneale has come back with a raking broadside, suggesting that customers may be paying more on their dispensing fees and admin costs than they will at in-store pharmacies and by inference, Clicks itself. Clicks currently owns around 15% share of the prescription market and is facing stiff competition from all sorts – Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Dis-Chem, and the plucky independents themselves.

Comment: Don’t know about you, but we find there’s something unsavoury about the big boys circling the independent sector and licking their chops. Small businesses, even in retail, are the safety net of any economy.

After racking up a R40 million loss in the six months to August ’08, Sovereign Food Investments (that’s chicken to you and I) have bounced back in the same period this year, with a R32 milion profit, driven by a 30% increase in volumes and a 15% increase in poultry prices, while feed costs were down 6% and total production costs down 5%. Turnover, in the meantime, was up a whacking 59% to R545 milions. This on the back of a sizeable expansion in their production facilities, and 7 October 2009 against the backdrop of a possible merger with Country Foods, another listed poultry producer, that would position the two a little closer to big boys Rainbow and Astral.

Comment: Chicken remains SA’s top everyday protein, and while the input prices are volatile, the rewards of performance can be great, as these smart fellas have shown.

There’s a guy in this story called Innocent Jam, which may be all you need to know. Be that as it may, Coca Cola and the Zimbabwean government are tied up in a court battle over the liquidation of some of the assets of Zim-born businessman Mutumwa Mawere, including those of Schweppes Zimbabwe, which he bought from Coke several years ago and which is once again controlled by Coke, and a Zimbabwean state administrator, after Mawere defaulted on the original terms of the sale agreement – this last courtesy of our man Innocent, Coke’s Central Africa spokesman. Zanu-PF nationalised the soft drink industry three years ago, which forced some of Mawere’s businesses into liquidation, and caused this, shall we say, uncomfortable alliance between Coke and the Government.

Comment: You still with us? Good…

Despite Uncle Tito’s largesse with the interest rate in the twilight of his tenure at the Reserve Bank, South Africans are reluctant or unable to borrow cash, resulting in the lowest growth in credit to the private sector in 43 years – 2.34% YOY for September. Economists, many of whom are now employed in a service capacity at Spur, are predicting nervously that growth could fall to zero in the next couple of months, although they will say anything these days. The decline in borrowing coincides, if that’s the word, with a slight decline in consumer confidence, down to 1 on the index for the third quarter from a more ebullient 4 in the second.

Comment: While credit has got itself a bad rap in these straitened times, you still need the stuff to power the economy, which augurs ill for the acceleration in growth we’d all very much like to see.

Sugar, they say, is set to be the new oil, which has got the boytjies down in KZN ordering gold-plated mercs and shopping around for extra wives and small, tame birds of prey. The price of the sweet stuff on global commodity markets has doubled since the beginning of the year and is close to a 28-year high as hedge funds and speculators bet on the possibility of an international shortage, the dastardly curs. Heavy rain has gutted the season in Brazil, and India, where they are mad for the stuff, has had a bad monsoon and has become a net importer. The US, in the meantime, is in danger of running out altogether, causing snackmongers to urge President Obama to relax import duties on that other addictive white crystal.

Comment: Illovo? That’s a buy.

Classy move by Nestlé who, in the face of the outrage which greeted the news that they were acquiring milk from the Gushungo Dairy estate (prop. Mrs G. Mugabe), unceremoniously dumped Farmer Grace while reiterating their commitment to doing business in Zim. Always nice to see public opinion heeded in these parts, isn’t it, Jackie?

Shoprite CEO Mr James Wellwood Basson received compensation to the tune of R24.1 large for the year to June after scraping by on R16.6 bar last year. This after playing no small part in Shoprite increasing sales by 25% for the year. It’s a tidy sort of sum – three times what Nick Badminton of Pick n Pay pockets, and 70% more than Standard Bank’s Jacko Maree.

Shoprite has committed to opening two stores in the DRC, in the cities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi respectively, and is planning on investing R400 million there, the sort of cash generally reserved for raising private armies in that neck of the woods. Bold moves from Africa’s biggest retailer.

SPAR was named as the Top Symbol/Fascia group in the UK at the annual Retail Industry awards, and not just for the general snappiness of their logo – among the achievements which counted were their training programme and bringing the Eurospar format to the UK for the first time. As far as we can tell, a Symbol/Fascia group is what we might call a trading brand in these parts.