Shoprite has concluded the terms of the sale of its Nigerian subsidiary, after 15 years in-country, joining an illustrious line of South African businesses which have tried and failed there, including Sun International, Tiger Brands, Truworths, Woolies and Mr Price. What’s up with that? A bunch of factors. The high degree of informality in the market makes it difficult for businesses with more conventional cost structures to compete profitability, particularly since there is a bustling black market in real and fake branded goods sold into that market. The government is quick to fine foreign businesses that overstep its sometime poorly defined boundaries. The oil-driven economy is in the midst of a five-to-seven-year bear market. “Just because something is risky does not necessarily mean it is sufficiently rewarding,” said Keith McLachlan, analyst of AlphaWealth.

Comment: Shoprite’s march into the rest of Africa was once the stuff of legend. Now that it has left the bulwarks of Kenya in the East and Nigeria in the West, we should look to more consolidation and a bigger market share play here at home.

Interims from the Dapper One, and they’re not the set of numbers the punters were hoping for, although there were bright spots. While food sales once again shot the lights out, growing sales +12.1% year on (miserable) year, the Fashion, Beauty and Home business recorded a decline of -11.2% for the 26 weeks through December. In Australia, David Jones grew sales +5.3%, and Country Road +9.4%. Turnover was up +5.8% to R39.6bn overall, operating profit +16.5% to R3.8bn, and headline earnings +58.6% to R2.49bn for the period, although punters should not expect a dividend this half. Woolies has already scaled back its expansion plans for clothing, in both the size and the number of stores, with a target of reducing net space by -25% within five years.

Comment: It seems that Woolies has moved beyond denialism into the cool waters of acceptance, and now the healing can truly begin.

Aaaand Shoprite back on deck, because it’s a heck of a slow news week, and also because Shoprite is doing some fantastic stuff with renewable energy. Like putting up enough solar panels at its Brackenfell plant to cover a football field. Meeting a part of the energy needs of 18 stores around SA and Namibia with photovoltaic generation. Putting 650 panels on the roofs of its refrigerated trucks, providing enough power to run over 1,000 fridges for a year, and allowing drivers to switch off their vehicles during drop-offs, reducing noise and emissions. It has also signed an agreement which will see the Group procure 434,000 MWh of renewable energy per year for the next seven years. “We recognise that climate change poses direct and indirect risks to our business and the communities we serve,” says Sanjeev Raghubir, Group sustainability manager. “Therefore, we are taking measures to tread more lightly on our planet.”

Comment: We are at the beginning of a remarkable transformation. It’s great that companies like Shoprite are taking their place in the vanguard.

In the UK, visionary discounter Aldi is looking for new ways to save its customers money – not indeed by selling them Aldi merchandise for less, but by reducing their food waste through a marketing campaign. Aldi has committed to cutting its own waste by 50% by 2030. It has also announced a major packaging ban across its range, starting with getting rid of plastic from the eggs. In the UAE, Carrefour is pioneering the use of Simbe Robotics’ autonomous shelf-scanning units in select stores to help with stock management. And perhaps more pertinently, Carrefour has opened its newest store, in Westgate Mall (Kenya), on the site of the old Shoprite. And speaking of Kenya, Botswana’s own Choppies are also exiting that turbid market, citing a lack of profitability, legal troubles and debt.

Comment: There was a time when we would have bet the farm on Shoprite in their race for Africa with Carrefour. Now we’re not so sure.

Some interims from the business formally known as Rainbow. Revenue for the six months through December up +10.5% to R15.7bn, with HEPS – a reliable and realistic measure of profitability – up a pleasing +12%. The increase in revenue may be attributed to solid performances in its sugar, baking and logistics businesses. Not so kosher was chicken, where higher commodity prices and the depredations of COVID-19 took their toll on profitability and sales respectively. “With COVID-19 mitigation strategies firmly in place, including careful management of working capital, RCL FOODS has been able to focus on its strategic transformation agenda with the aim of creating a more resilient business with more sustainable quality of earnings,” said Chief Executive Officer Miles Dally. He also mentioned that the business remained of an acquisitive mindset and will be looking to support its drive to diversification with the right opportunities.

Comment: A great business in a tough sector, boxing clever.

As the evenings get cooler, and the farmer turns her thoughts to the harvest, interim season drifts on, yielding today this set of numbers from Adcock Ingram: turnover up a surprisingly muted +4% to R3.8bn, with trading profit down -11.7% to R433m. The increase in turnover was supported by big demand for immune-boosting products during the pandemic, and the addition of the Plush portfolio of leather care products. A decline in gross margin resulted in part from the exchange rate, a relatively unfavourable sales mix, and a reduction in demand for cough and cold products – this last a curious and mainly welcome side-effect of COVID-19. However, says CEO Andy Hall, “COVID-19 has also presented the company with opportunities to adapt to the ever-changing environment, and at the same time, deliver on its promise of ‘adding value to life’ by producing and supplying life-saving and acute medicines especially at a time when they are needed most”.

Comment: Further evidence, if more were needed, that no sector has escaped the negative impacts of COVID.

According to the hoary sages of StatsSA, unemployment breached a record of 32.5% in the fourth quarter of last year, or 7.2 million jobless in the Beloved Country. This increased rate results from more people joining the workforce, as predicted by economists. On the upside, the country added 333,000 jobs in the period with 189,000 in the formal sector, 76,000 in private households, 65,000 in the informal sector, and 2,000 in agriculture. The breakdown of the unemployed is illuminating: 52.3% had a level of education below matric, while only 1.8% were graduates. 78.3% of the country’s 15 million employed people said they were expected to work during lockdown, while 66% said lockdown had made working impossible. Encouragingly, 95.4% expected to return to their same job after lockdown.

Comment: This is where the pedal of macroeconomics hits the hard metal of peoples’ lived experience. These numbers should be on every office wall in the country.