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Good news for those perspicacious enough to bank with FNB, as we ourselves have been doing these two decades and more. That erstwhile institution, you see, has teamed up with another South African icon – retailer SPAR – and tech-savvy shoppers will soon be able to purchase goods from participating SPARs with the cash safely squirreled away in their FNB eWallet. The cardless wonder uses a cellphone to enable eWallet recipients to make over the counter purchases and withdrawals at over 1,300 SPARs. “The partnership complements our long-term digital strategy to expand access to financial services,” said FNB’s Sandi Madikiza. “Our customers are increasingly making cardless withdrawals at our ATMs and we see this becoming a common trend where mobile technology is preferred instead of the physical cards.”

Comment: When it comes to mobile tech, South Africa is a nation of early adopters. Smart move on SPAR’s part to put its faith in the coming mobile money revolution.

Look forward to another 20 Massmart stores in the Motherland in the next three years. This according to the chairman himself, Kuseni Dlamini, speaking at the Africa CEO forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Specifically, he says, new stores will be popping up in Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, and interestingly, Ghana, at a time when most retailers are focusing their efforts in the burgeoning east of the continent. “We see ourselves as playing a catalytic role in the modernisation of African retail,” he says, then goes on to qualify this bold assertion. “We are deliberately very cautious and measured. It’s a very measured strategy, because we’re in it for the long term.” The programme will see Massmart expand its footprint outside South Africa by around 36%.

Comment: Cautious and measured is all good and fine in moderation. Expansive and explosive might be the way to go after Shoprite though.

An estimated 90% of all food sold in South African supermarkets is certified halaal, in a nod to the spending power of South Africa’s almost 1 million Muslims, and the halaal market is estimated at as much as R45bn. According to the National Independent Halaal Trust (NIHT), the halaal-certification process simply “oversees the entire programme of production and ensures that no non-halaal products are used, or that halaal products are contaminated with pork, insects, urine, alcohol, animal waste, blood, certain genetically modified organisms and harmful supplements and colourants”. According to the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL), however, they have received a campaign-level number of complaints from Christian punters concerned that their hard-earned cash is somehow finding its way into Muslim pockets and that they are being forced, against their will, to consume idolatrous corn flakes.

Comment: It’s 2018 people, it’s a small little world we all share, and it’s time to grow up.

Coca-Cola Beverages SA (CCBSA) is planning to spend R3.9bn over the next three years to assist black-owned and black women-owned organisations. This according to MD Velaphi Ratshefola, speaking at Coke’s supplier development conference, which targeted specific commodity categories, including fleet maintenance, manufacturing plant spares and machinery, engineering and logistics, and packaging. “We’re laying the groundwork for an environment in which opportunities are available equally to all businesses, and where collaboration across businesses builds a thriving and vibrant economy that benefits us all,” said Mr R. This a day after the business announced a R400m trust for the development of historically-disadvantaged emerging farmers and small suppliers.

Comment: This is how we do it. Scale in the service of the little guy, and profits all round.

A slow news week, so what better time to theorise idly about which shares might be ripe for purchase, and which not? According to habitual speculator Stafford Thomas, AVI is a rare plucked ‘un, with a consistently upward profit performance, nice efficiencies in the Snackworx and Entyce beverages divisions, and the likelihood of stable selling prices in the next year, which should improve demand for AVI’s brands. On the downside, a stronger rand does scupper the I&J fishing division somewhat, depending as it does on exports, and the uncertainty around the quota system doesn’t help there either. Although abalone does deliver, handsomely. And while we’ve been dismissive in the past about the business’ somewhat eccentric exposure in the fashion industry, with 77 Spitz stores and 33 Kurt Geigers, showing revenue growth of 6.8% to R1 something billion, that’s a nice little earner too.

Comment: OK, we’re sold. Where do we sign?

Last week, we received the glad tidings that the Reserve Bank had seen fit to drop the prime rate of interest by 25 basis points, on the back of a moderate improvement in the Bank’s inflation forecast. This puts the repo rate at 6.5% and the prime lending rate at 10%. The Bank does warn, however, that their five-year inflation expectations have declined, sitting somewhere closer to the middle of the 3-6% targeted band rather than the lower end, and that any international trade war sparked by, oh, say, the freaking President of the United freaking States on a freaking whim, could have a deleterious effect on inflation also. SARB President Lesetja Kganyago is also somewhat bearish on the strength of the dear old ZAR. “At current levels the bank models see the rand as somewhat over-valued,” he intones.

Comment: An easing in the interest rate, however slight, might do something to ease the pressure of the recent VAT increase. And as for rand strength? Keep it coming.

Last week, our report on Willowton Foods may have led some readers to understand that it will be absorbing the full 15% VAT on vatable items. What we meant, of course, was that it would be absorbing the 1 percentage point increase over the next three months on all the non-exempt items it produces. We apologise for any confusion caused.

In the UK, Aldi and Lidl are going great guns, planning on exceeding 1,000 stores apiece in the coming two years. Currently, Aldi has 762 stores and Lidl 710, with the latter seeing potential for as many as 1,500 in the long term. There are some analysts, however, who doubt the growth potential of the discounter model as Aldi’s profits have declined for the past three years.

The move into healthcare has been a global retail trend for the better part of a decade now, and it’s about to kick into overdrive, as Walmart eyes medical insurance giant Humana for possible acquisition, and Amazon makes a number of opaque but highly significant moves in the direction of healthcare too, including the distribution of supplies into hospitals and clinics. On a more modest scale, Nestlé have brought to market a healthier Milky bar with 30% less sugar than rivals. And closer to home, IMPERIAL Logistics is expanding its healthcare warehouse facility in Centurion, with the addition of space and technologies which will help clients to quickly and cost-effectively deliver life-saving medicine to their customers and patients.