By Jackie Cameron
- Cell C has blamed the changing retail environment for a decision to shed stores and jobs. It said on Friday it expects to close around 128 stores across the country, with 546 jobs on the line as the mobile operator moves to cut costs and restructure its operations, reports Reuters. “The retail environment has changed and this has been fast-tracked by the impact of Covid-19 and the evolving purchasing habits of consumers,” Cell C said in a statement.
- Tiger Brands says Covid-19 containment measures are largely to blame for its disappointing results; it also said Khotso Mokhele would step down as chairman of the board on December 31. Mokhele will be replaced by Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, a lead independent director at mining firm Exxaro, who will take over in January after a handover period starting from September. Fraser-Moleketi, 60, served in various cabinet roles from 1996 to 2008, including as Minister of Public Service and Administration and Minister for Welfare and Population Development, reports Reuters. The owner of popular South African food brands Jungle Oats and Tastic rice also said it expected its headline earnings per share (HEPS) from total operations for the year ending Sept. 30 to fall between 35% and 40% from the 1,322 cents ($0.7693) reported a year earlier, says the news agency.
- Following the Prosus listing, Naspers is still the largest South African company on the JSE, it noted in a report on its AGM.” We are one of the foremost investors in the South African technology sector, with the country’s leading etailer and its leading print and digital media business,” it said in a statement, available on BizNews. “Through Naspers Foundry we aim to invest R1.4bn in the next generation of outstanding South African tech start-ups in the coming years. And Naspers Labs is pioneering an innovative hyper-local programme to tackle youth unemployment,” it said. Naspers pointed out that it continues to contribute significantly in terms of tax: in total, Naspers group paid R13.2bn in taxes in South Africa during the year. In April 2020 we donated R1.5bn in emergency aid to the government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis. This comprised R500m to the Solidarity Response Fund announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, and R1bn of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies, which we sourced in China, in partnership with the Chinese government and Tencent, to support South Africa’s health workers.
- SA’s wine industry is in global headlines because it has been shattered by the Covid-19 booze ban. South Africa’s wine industry is in deep crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. Wines of South Africa, an industry organization that promotes the nation’s wines in international markets, estimates the industry has lost in excess of R7bn in revenue and roughly 21,000 jobs. VinPro, an industry group that represents South African wine producers, cellars and stakeholders, expects more than 80 wineries and 350 wine-grape producers to go out of business. “We’re hanging on by our fingernails,” said Alastair Rimmer, head winemaker at Kleine Zalze Wines in Stellenbosch, in the heart of the wine-producing region. The Wall Street Journal points out that it isn’t just winemakers that are hurting. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s South African Breweries cut salaries by 10% across the board to avoid eliminating jobs. In July, Anheuser-Busch took a $2.5 billion write-down on its South Africa business due to the liquor ban and uncertain economic outlook. SAB has also paused R2.5bn in capital investments that it had planned for this year, and is reviewing another R2.5bn slated for 2021. For more on that story, log on to BizNews Premium.
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