From when David Kneale took Clicks over in 2006 to when he retired at the beginning of this year, revenue trebled, the store base has doubled, operating profit grew six-fold and the market capitalisation of the business went from R3.2bn to over R50bn. And – not insignificantly – the Group created 6,000 new jobs. Against all of this, his most recent payout from the business was R106m all in, including his salary and pension for his final four months of R3.8m, a short-term incentive of R6.6m and a retirement long-service award of R1.7m, and a cool R87m from the vesting of long-term incentive appreciation units from earlier financial years. In other Clicks news, the business is ending its deal with Shell whereby punters would earn 10c in ClubCard points for every litre of Shell petroleum they put in their car.

Comment: No one’s saying why, but rest assured, members are not happy.

Having jumped in belatedly on the loyalty business, Checkers seemed to have asked itself “why stop there?” and have skipped ahead to online grocery retail, launching South Africa’s first 60-minute grocery delivery service from a supermarket chain, Sixty60. It comes in the form of a grocery delivery app, and explains Chief of Innovation and Strategy Neil Schreuder: “Sixty60 will offer unrivalled convenience because it does all the hard work for you. In our time-pressed society, providing consumers with a swift, on-demand grocery delivery service is like giving them back time: today’s most precious commodity.” In other Shoprite news, the Big Red One is contesting the R15bn fine the Competition Commission are attempting to exact after subsidiary Computicket’s anti-competitive behaviour. Some pundits have argued that the unprecedented ruling, if upheld in the Tribunal, could be devastating for the country’s appeal as an investment destination.

Comment: Overreach, if you ask us. We’re pulling for Shoprite on this one.

Hopping back on the healthy living train this week is Pick n Pay, which is re-launching its Livewell range with the introduction in January of 150 new products that join the 330 already on shelf, ranging across fresh, pantry items and frozen options, which follow strict criteria based on government guidelines for fat, saturated fat, added sugar and salt. The relaunch incorporates new packaging with easy-to-read labels for smarter, healthier food choices In the sort of collab which gets sneakerheads all excited about what Lil Nas X is doing with Vans, Pick n Pay is pairing up with hippie juice business Kauai to offer a special range of healthy frozen ready-to-eat meals, sides and smoothies under the Livewell brand. The range also includes options for punters with dietary restrictions, with labelling for low carb items and those free from gluten and lactose, as well as vegetarian or vegan options.

Comment: An extremely sharp approach to private label, adding value beyond the usual low prices.

An unseemly dust up among the Germans right now, in the US, where a dispute between Aldi and Lidl over trade secrets is entering its second year with no end in sight. Aldi allege that the former director of real estate for their North Carolina and Virginia regions jumped ship to rival Lidl in violation of a non-compete agreement and, with the help of a mole within Aldi, subsequently shared competitive trade secrets such as sales data and real estate, marketing and project management strategies. Check those restraint agreements, people! Also in the US, Walmart is upping its game, fresh-wise, in response to complaints from customers that it’s a jungle in there, with crowded aisles and difficult-to-locate kumquats. So in something Walmart is very cleverly calling produce 2.0, they’re widening the aisles, lowering the sides of the display bins and outing all organic produce together, inter alia.

Comment: Interestingly, the changes also meet the needs of the staff pickers increasingly deployed to fill customers’ orders in Walmart’s burgeoning online offering.

RCL FOODS – the business formerly known as Rainbow Chicken – continues its evolution this week with the news that it will be buying, for an undisclosed sum, IMPERIAL Logistics’ cold chain business. Lest you’ve been hiding behind an ox wagon for the past fifty years or so, the cold chain refers to a temperature-controlled supply chain, which helps prolong shelf life and keep the produce fresh. So what’s the deal there? You’ll recall that some years ago acquired Vector Logistics, under which the acquisition has been made. The new purchase, say RCL FOODS, will enable the consolidation of two separate temperature-controlled distribution networks into one synergised network. This one imagines will remove costs from RCL FOODS’ own supply chain, and providing better service level to RCL FOODS’ many customers in the trade. For more info, click here .

Comment: The constant growth and diversification of RCL FOODS by strategic acquisitions, has been an inspiration during this period of prolonged difficulty for the legacy poultry business.

The Mqanduli Rural Enterprise Development Hub (RED HUB) milling plant, outside of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, has nabbed itself an eight-year trade support package with SPAR, and will by year five be turning over something in the order of R30m per annum. RED HUBs are an initiative of the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA), and are aimed at helping rural farmers achieve access to high-volume, consumer demand markets. Under the terms of the package, the RED HUBs would get a major discount on the “cost of trade” that include rebates, marketing, warehousing and other fees that are the bane of a traditional supplier’s life. The ECRDA is also in talks with Boxer Superstores to get its product onto their shelves in the area, which was originally part of their traditional heartland before they expanded across the major metropolitan areas. This access to market model will expand to include all retailers and wholesalers who value socially responsible consumption, with a special emphasis on good business practices and protection of the domestic industry. The expansion will also include a growing product range over time,” says the ECRDA’s Nhlanganiso Dladla.

Comment: An excellent blend of private enterprise and government intervention.

The Composite Leading Business Cycle Indicator – the Leading Indicator – shows the direction in which real economic activity is moving, in real time. It is calculated on the basis of a number of areas of activity, including building plans approved, new passenger vehicles sold, commodity price index for main export commodities, index of prices of all classes of shares traded on the JSE, job advertisements, volume of orders in manufacturing, average hours worked per factory worker in manufacturing, interest rate spread, the business confidence index, gross operating surplus as a percentage of GDP. Well, the indicator for September was out this week, and it declined 0.6% month-on-month, its worst performance since June, following a 0.1% drop in August. Dragging it down were a decrease in the number of residential building plans approved and a deceleration in the 12-month percentage change in job advertisement space, while keeping it afloat was an increase in the volume of orders in manufacturing and the US dollar-based South African export commodity price index.

Comment: And with GDP growth predicted to come in at 0.6% for the year, down from the 1% we were looking for, it seems our bumpy ride will continue.