Trade Intelligence Logo

The Big Blue released a trading statement last week regarding its first-half performance, and things are looking pretty tidy, with turnover growing 7.2% and headline earnings per share (the one true measure of profitability these days) expected to rise 20 to 25%. This, point out management, is the seventh such reporting period in a row of meaningful profit growth and is further proof that recovery is well under way. “This result is underpinned by stronger operational and financial discipline, with tight expense control in an inflationary economy,” they aver. It could have been better they said, but for tough conditions in the economy and the disruption created by store refurbs. They expect food inflation to ease up in the next while, which should bring punters flocking back to the aisles.

Comment: Excellent work there from a business quietly executing a solid turnaround strategy.

Doing quite nicely for himself this week out of the proceeds: Mr JW “Whitey” Basson, whose R50million payday has been the subject of some indignation in the press, 50 large being the amount Mr B. was paid as a discretionary bonus for the year ended June as part of Shoprite’s short-term incentive plan, in part because the business exceeded its target for trading profit growth in 2016. And also because the Big Man has not received a pay increase, or incentive rewards, since 2013. And finally, say Shoprite, because since taking the reins in 1979 he has transformed the business into a – in fact the – major player in SA grocery retail, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process. Detractors say that it would be useful to know also what those at the bottom end of Shoprite’s salary scale are paid.

Comment: Doubtless, in any normal economy, this sort of executive remuneration is justified. But in a country like ours, at a time like this, the optics are not great.

Entrenching its investment in the Emerald Isle is SPAR, which is soon to be opening 20 more SPAR and EuroSPAR outlets under the BWG Foods Group over the next year. BWG, which already supplies all SPARs and EuroSPARs in Ireland, is 80% owned by SPAR South Africa as of last year. It also operates the Mace, Londis and XL brands, for a total of 40% of the Irish convenience retail market. It’s the belief of BWG that Ireland is mad for convenience right now, and as such is working hard to help the retailers it either owns or supplies to attract new customers and grow revenues by focusing on fresh food, innovation and digital trends. All this, and those hilarious Irish rowing twins spoke at the BWG Conference.

Comment: The scale of the BWG acquisition just keeps on unfolding. Amazing work there, SPAR SA.

This is big. Rampant food manufacturer Rhodes Food Group has just announced that it has acquired, for the princely sum of R200million, iconic Durban pickle maker Pakco, without whose lime pickle or mango atchar no South African pantry is complete. In addition to these, Pakco produces a variety of other branded and private label ranges of spices, condiments, instant meals and desserts in dry-packed, bottled and canned formats. This latest acquisition is one of a recent series – Rhodes has brought six other businesses since listing in 2014, for a total of R690million. Its strategy is to acquire businesses which allow it to expand into new and complementary product categories. And it’s working: turnover grew 54% to R2billion in the six months through March, with NPAT up 89% to R110million.

Comment: The rise of Rhodes is a story we will be pursuing eagerly over the next few years.

To put things in perspective – last year’s rainfall was the lowest ever recorded in South Africa since record-keeping began in 1904. This had a devastating effect in agriculture and communities, and played hell with farmers, agribusinesses and consumers alike. South Africa has become a net importer of maize for the first time since 2008, sending food inflation up into the double digits. And worse threatens – the drought may extend to a third growing season, which would add the categories of fruit and vegetables to the agricultural outputs already affected – meats, oilseeds and grains. This would further affect economic growth, as South Africa is the world’s biggest citrus exporter after Spain.

Comment: Resilience against the effects of climate change is a massive and growing concern of governments worldwide. Now is not the time for industries to roll the dice on the likelihood of things getting better, but to plan for them to get worse.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has left its growth projection for the South unchanged at 0.1%, but adjusted 2017 down a notch, from 1.1% to 0.8%. This, they say, on ongoing joblessness and continued economic and political uncertainty. In the meantime, corporate South Africa is sitting on a big pile of cash – if you call R1.3trillion big – which it is perhaps understandably leery of spending. Only 19% of South Africa’s GDP is made up of investment spending: compare this to China, which invests 40%. Why South African businesses hold onto their cash is complex: those who invest overseas, for example, do so under circumstances of some risk, where it is advisable to keep some readies on hand for a bailout. One thing is certain: free up some of the cash, and the economy must grow. But with business confidence adrift at just 90.3 (worse than it sounds) on the richly-acronymed South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) Business Confidence Index (BCI), this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Comment: Time, surely, for a National Economic Assembly, convened perhaps by a greyer Roelf Meyer and a portlier Cyril Ramaphosa?

Oi, you at the back? No comments about Blundstone boots, short shorts and cork hats, gettit? Woolworths, you see, has through its Aussie subsidiary Country Road bought a 100% stake in menswear retailer Politix (check sp. Ed) for about R630million, tightening its stranglehold on fashion in that benighted country, which once, we are told, played a decent game of cricket.

It’s awards season, that breathless time of year when retail CEOs gather like so many startled fawns on the red carpet, fidgeting with their silk ties and wondering nervously who won what in the Times / Sowetan Shopper Survey. And while the full results have yet to be posted, we are able to report here that Clicks did rather well for itself, picking up first place in the glamorous Health, Beauty and Fragrance Outlets category.