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… but Pick n Pay have selected a deputy. CEO, that is, in the form of a Mr Richard van Rensburg, who quietly joined the board last year as a non-exec, fresh from an illustrious early career as a partner at Ernst & Young and founder of Affinity Logic, with some stops along the way on the boards, variously, of Massmart, Woolworths and Wooltru. His technical and financial background will no doubt assist him in the execution of his brief: to accelerate Pick n Pay’s drive to implement global best practices (in areas, presumably like SAP and centralised distribution). Other priority areas for the Transformation Office where he will install his cherry wood desk are buying and administration.

Comment: Another big move at a business which is sending a big turnaround message to the market of late.

Hot on the heels of crack regiment Shoprite come Field Marshall Wiese’s foot soldiers of the Pep division, which, we are reliably informed, will be following The Big Red One into economies like Nigeria. Pepkor will be opening its first Nigerian store this year, and might spend as much as R100million in its first big push, which will see 50 of the cheerful blue and yellow signs popping up in the homeland of pet hyenas and dispossessed heirs with access to large email databases. Nor is onse Christo that bothered by the approach of Walmart, taking the view that there is plenty for everyone. According to Mr W, the synergies between Pep and Shoprite on the continent make it unlikely that either business will be sold separately – and with the increase of Wiese’s stake in Pepkor through Brait, he appears in that business at least for the long haul.

Comment: The rollout of Pep, while non-FMCG, will no doubt be smoothed by the network of relationships and access to property that Shoprite unlocked during the first big push.

Giant, ruddy-cheeked Swiss dairyman Nestlé, having taken some knocks like the rest of us in the first six months of the FY ‘11, has dusted off its alphorn and with a jolly yodel announced that the next six are looking a lot richer and creamier, to the tune, perhaps, of 5-6% of pure, frothy growth. The rude good health of the Swiss franc, soaring raw materials prices and a Europe that is crumbling like a three-year old Emmentaler on a forgotten shelf in the pantry have all taken their toll, although Nestlé managed to push through some extremely creditable increases over the period, presumably with the increase-pushing tool on their little red and white knife, and these will no doubt help things along in the months ahead, as will further robust assistance from the marketing budget.

Comment: Great to hear something out of Europe that is not depressing or frankly batty, for a change.

In all the excitement last week … what? Oh, there’s always some excitement, of one form or another ... we completely and utterly neglected to report on the tempting item of newsicles that is the Sunday Times Top Brands Survey. So here, in order of meritocratic merit, is a relatively random sampling of categories:

Comment: Nice one, Unilever and Pick n Pay. And Shoprite.

Imagine the surprise of shoppers in the scenic Gauteng hamlet of Olivedale when, popping down to Olivedale Corner in their slippers and comfy old brown jerseys for a litre of milk and the morning paper, they found their local Pick n Pay Family store had disappeared without a trace – signage, fridges, cashiers, the works. There was the small matter, apparently, of a vast whack of cash owed by the franchisee to Pick n Pay, who tiring of the sad old cycle of empty promises and inevitable disappointment, closed the place down.

Last week we ran a story which hinted at a burgeoning bromance between Pioneer and AVI. This week it’s back to good-natured arm wrestling and other games of manly excellence, as Pioneer announce their intention to take an initial 10% of the R3billion biscuit market after opening a new plant, with ultimate designs on a quarter of the market. Biscuits, you will recall, are an area dominated by alpha-dog AVI these how many years. Beat that, boet.

And what have we here? Walmart’s like store sales have declined for a ninth successive quarter, hit by declining spend on big ticket items and the proliferation of even cheaper formats, like dollar stores, as the bitter winds of a double dip recession gather force on the prairies. On the upside, profits were up 5.7%, thanks in no small part to Sam’s Club, its Makro-style operation in the US and (ahem) to a pleasing performance in its international operations.