The Asian shopping haven in the first quarter kept its crown as having the world’s highest rent for prime retail properties, at nearly 50% more than for similar districts such as upper Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Rent were more than four times the rate in similar areas in London and Paris, according to a report by global property adviser CBRE Group.

The 10 most expensive cities for retailers benefit from strong demand and modest new supply, a recipe for stable record-high prime rental rates, the report on Sunday showed.

In some markets, such as Hong Kong and London, the sky-high rents have prompted some newcomers to look nearby. For example, in London, Mayfair has benefited from those priced out of Bond Street.

Annual retail rent in high-end shopping areas in  Hong Kong averaged €36 351 per square metre.

” Given that space is so expensive in Hong Kong’s prime shopping streets largely driven by continued demand from international luxury brands, many traditional retailers have moved into more niche secondary retail locations as they still want to be in and access the market, but have been priced out of the prime space,” Joe Lin, CBRE’s executive director of retail, said in a statement.

New York ranked second among the most expensive global retail markets, with prime rents averaging €24 944 per square metre.

Europe’s prime retail markets followed, with London at €8 843 per square metre, and Paris at €8 820 per square metre.

The supply of prime space was tight elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region. An inflow of US retailers helped Sydney maintain its prime rent at an average of €8 549 per square metre.

Tokyo was sixth at €7 519 per square metre, followed by Melbourne at €7 148 per square metre.

Zurich came in eighth at €6 905 per square metre. Brisbane’s mining and natural resource sectors, and growing population helped push that into the top 10 with its prime retail rents up 15% to €6 209  per square metre.

Moscow rounded out the top 10 with rents at €6 203 per square metre.

Source: Fastmoving

In its trade update, it warned its shareholders that it has entered ” into negotiations with a third party which, if successfully concluded and subject to regulatory approval” may affect its share price.

Choppies, which is a giant in the mass grocery retail in Botswana and is the leading retailer of fast moving goods and general merchandise, has been secretly rolling  up its sleeves to spread it footprint beyond Botswana and South Africa into the South African Development Community (SADC) as a grand plan to achieve the U$ 1 billion turnover mark.

” We are planning to acquire other businesses in the region (outside Botswana and South Africa) and we have over P160 million sitting in cash to do that, ” Chief Executive Officer, Ram Ottapath, as said.

Ottapath, who is a great follower of the late Steve Jobs, the Apple and the world’s IT icon who died last year, describes him as ” a man who succeeded against all odds”.

He has built Choppies – 54 store in Botswana – into one of the biggest export brands and is planning to reach a target mark of 75 in two years. He is also aiming to open 12 more stores in South Africa in the next two years.

Lately, Choppies brightened the faces of investors by announcing that its half year results to December 31, 2013 will be ” significantly better” than it originally thought.

The Lobatse-founded company operates 63 stores between Botswana and South Africa – and a large number of them in Botswana. It is the ” gorilla” in mass grocery retail in Botswana.

Botswana contributes about 83 percent of its total revenue at P4 billion per annum while the remaining 17 percent comes from South Africa. However, going forward, South Africa is expected to power the retail chain profits coupled by its strategic warehousing that opened in Rustenburg last year.

” South Africa is a huge market and we feel that there are opportunities in semi urban and urban areas,” Ottapath said, adding that ” currently they are investing in Limpopo, Northwest, and also looking into Freestate.

” Going forward, thrust of growth can be expected to emerge out of South Africa operations where fully fledged operations were commenced by the end of the calendar year, as well as the distribution center in Rustenburg having an upbeat on the bottom-line.

” Domestic prospects will continue, driven by the group’s competitive advantage over the industry, given its inherent successful business model and market focus,” Stockbrokers Botswana said in its research note.

Choppies controls 30 percent of the national share, followed by Spar at a distant 21 percent, Pick ‘n Pay 14 percent, Shoprite at 10 percent and the rest 25 percent.

Some of the products include household goods, fruit and vegetables, meat and other consumables.

As part of its strategy, it maintained more convenient shopping hours, which saw it declaring a full year dividend of 3.6743 thebe per share or 31.32  percent during last year.

The company is currently trading at a higher rate of 17.4 times against the market average of 11times historic earnings, indicating a higher appetite for the stock.

It joined the BSE main board through Initial Public Offer window early last year at 100 thebe per share but its share prices has since surged up.

The announcement by the chain store defied tough trading conditions that saw a rising household indebtness,  squeezed salary adjustments and high interest rates in the market. The tough trading conditions affected the stock during the past year.

According to the researcher, the company had a stock turnover ratio of 13.76 times as compared to 14.13 times for 2011. That showed that the stock was staying longer in the shelves than the previous year.

Source: Fastmoving

Speaking at a recent press briefing, KBL Marketing Director Amakura Erbynn said although Core Original was launched in 2011 and had its name changed from Core Cider to Core Original, it was never marketed extensively.

She said after the name change they had to settle for sometime so that consumers could familiarise themselves with the name change. She added: ” Core Original is one of KBL brand that has the potential to do well, and with the advertising we are putting in now it will reach its potential.”

Erbynn further said that the idea to use the ” orange clad aliens ” who are called The Tang Mob, was to arouse interest in people before revealing any details.

She said that The Tang Mob is part of the campaign with the slogan ‘The Tang is Gonna Getcha’ that will be used to promote Core Original. She further said that the campaign will now extend into various malls and liquor outlets where they will be giving away promotional merchandise.

Source: Fastmoving

TN Mart sells food and non-food items. Foods items include mealie meal, cooking oil, non alcoholic beverages, teas and coffees, milk, breakfast cereals, biscuits and sweets.

Non-food items include washing powders and soaps, health and beauty products, toiletries, travel goods, kitchenware, stationery and polishers.

Lifestyle Holdings chief executive officer Tawanda Nyambirai told NewsDay Business yesterday that the development had been inspired by the demand of services by TN Mart customers.

He said to 33 000 applications had been received with 7000 coming from the Warren Park area.

” We are getting orders and we are ready to deliver,” Nyambirai said.

He said the TN Virtual Mart applications were being grouped according to their geographical locations, thereby spreading the costs of delivery.

” We expect to fully service the 33000 customers’ accounts to continue to build our customer base,” Nyambirai said.

In a statement TN Mart said the Virtual Mart was an exciting and convenient way of purchasing groceries.

” We will deliver your order right to your doorstep as quickly as possible.

” Payment is done on delivery. It’s that easy! Call us now and order your groceries. No order is too small or too big,” reads part of the statement.

The group recently expanded its product offering by launching a retail brand, TN Mart, and a fast-food chain, TN Grill.

The group entered into a 12 – year lease agreement with Rufaro Marketing for its former beerhalls which it intends to use to further expand its retail offering.

Source: Fastmoving

The purchase will give the JSE-listed transport and mobility group exposure to supply chains in Nigeria’s dynamic fast-moving consumer goods, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries.

MDS is a wholly owned subsidiary of UAC of Nigeria, a company that provides warehousing and distribution solutions through a network of 50 distribution centres by linking companies with their customers in more than 600 cities and villages across Nigeria.

All conditions precedent have been fulfilled and the transaction is unconditional.

Marius Swanepoel, the chief executive of Imperial Logistics, said yesterday that the acquisition strengthened the group’s footprint on the continent and was consistent with its strategy on consumer opportunities and following its customer base.

He said MDS had a quality customer base with a strong new business pipeline. Through the transaction, Imperial had a specialist management team that strengthened and complemented the group’s existing skills set, he added.

The transaction follows Imperial’s acquistion in January of Imperial Health Sciences, formerly RTT Health Sciences, one of Africa’s leading pharmaceutical and health-care supply chain service providers.

Imperial Health Sciences specialises in multichannel solutions for delivering essential medicines and consumer health products in South Africa and to Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

Swanepoel said the acquisitions of MDS and RTT Health Sciences offered exceptional growth prospects because they strengthened Imperial’s current exposure to these high growth economies.

Larry Ettah, UAC’s chief executive, said it believed this transaction created an outstanding opportunity to drive growth in MDS and, therefore, it looked forward to working with Imperial Logistics as its strategic partner to engage the undeserved and fast-growing logistics market in Nigeria.

” The combination of MDS’s vital local experience and the value adding international logistics expertise of Imperial Logistics will lead to efficiencies and raise benchmarks in Nigeria for the benefit of all stakeholders, ” he said.

Peter Matlare, the chief executive of Tiger Brands, which owns 49 percent of UAC Foods, said Imperial was a trusted logistics partner and it was wonderful that it was entering Nigeria in this way because it meant Tiger Brands could rely on its logistics support.

Imperial shares rose 1.49 percent to R226 yesterday.

Source: Fastmoving

The first batch of 20 retailers comprising of drinking bar operators, restaurant and retail shop owners in parts of Accra has taken place at the company’s premises on the Graphic Road.

In furtherance of ensuring the safety and good health of consumers, the company has decided to educate one of its key stakeholders, retailers of its alcoholic products on how they can responsibly serve the consuming public.

The training is being conducted by a team of health experts from the Health and Work Environment Agency, an NGO. ABL’s Alcohol Policy Training dubbed: ‘ Responsible Retailing’ is expected to be rolled out on a national scale in the coming months is consumed; alcohol and pregnant women; underage drinking; drink driving; and selling to underage persons among others.

The corporate and Legal Affairs Director of ABL, Adjoba Kyiamah notes that the training further gives meaning to the principles underling the company’s alcohol policy stressing that, ” Our beer adds to the enjoyment of life for the overwhelming majority of our consumers. We are about the harmful effects of irresponsible alcohol consumption and therefore we engage stakeholders and work collectively with them to address irresponsible consumption.”

” We firmly adhere to the fact that alcohol consumption is for adults and is a matter of individual judgement and accountability. Furthermore, we ensure that information provided to consumers about alcohol consumption should be accurate and balanced.”

One of the five facilitators for the training programme, Mrs Monica Owusu Afoakwa, a public health practitioner with the Tema General Hospital appreciates the timeliness of the programme for the retailers.

” This has come at a time when many stakeholders have been trying to find a way to address some of the teething problems with the sales and consumption of alcohol in Ghana. ABL has taken a giant step and I am sure this will have a positive impact.”

The participants, who included waiters, managers and owners of alcohol retail facilities from parts of Accra, believe the information they received will make them start doing some things right.

” I have never considered the harmful impact alcohol on pregnant mothers but with this training I am going to instruct my waiters never to serve any expectant mother who enters my facility to purchase alcohol,” that is according to Daniel Boamah, Manager of Stone Age Pub at La.

The Manager of Home Alone, a pub in Osu, Slyvia Tagoe, ” In my locality, the issue of underage drinking is a major concern to some of us. What I intend to do from today is to boldly put up a sign that will indicate that I don’t serve underage persons. This will succeed if all other alcoholic beverage retailers get to understand the harmful effects of underage drinking and the urgent need to stop binge drinking among the youth.”

The broad thematic areas of ABL’s Alcohol Policy touches on employees conduct in relation to alcohol behaviour and communication; and alcohol intelligence quotient. This is what ABL aims to share with its key stakeholders. To ensure that participants continue to update themselves on the lessons learned, they were directed to the website www.talkingalcohol.com for further information.

Source: Fastmoving

Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati, the National Coordinator at the Namibia Trade Forum, allayed fears of a price increase in poultry products if interim protection is given to the financially-troubled Namib Poultry Industries’ N$600 million project.

She told the Economist that there are mechanisms in place to deal with the manipulation of prices by a monopoly.

She said: ” When prices increase, it is not only because of the abuse of dominance by a monopoly. From the discussions I have had, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has made it clear that there will be a monitoring mechanism in place to ensure that prices are not driven by dominance of the firm.

In this regard, the Namibian Competition Commission will play a crucial role in the monitoring as public interest is crucial to ensure that consumers are not exploited.

Namib Poultry Industries (NPI) has been arguing that it is not in a position yet to compete with South American and EU imports that are subsidized and being dumped in Africa, hence it needs infant industry protection for the local broiler industry, arguing that such protection will lead to high poultry prices as NPI will dominate the market.

But Nghipondoka-Robiati believes that protection of the poultry project is important as it is aligned to the goals of the fourth national development plan (NDP4).  ” NDP4 has clearly articulated that sustained economic growth, employment creation and increased income equality are our overall national objectives.

” It goes on to say that the economic priorities are logistics, tourism, manufacturing and agriculture. This [poultry project] is an initiative that addresses two of the economic priorities, namely agriculture and manufacturing. It also addresses the issue of employment by creating the X number of jobs that NPI has created and the downstream effects.”

The Namib Poultry Industries’ recently revealed that its N$600million investment is in jeopardy if no protection is given to it against cheap imports mainly from South Africa and Brazil. The chicken project is said to have already run up losses amounting to millions since it started mid last year.

Confusion has surrounded the status of the infant Industry Protection given to the broiler industry . Namib Poultry Industries last year announced that the Ministry of Trade and Industry had already granted it infant industry protection for the next eight years only to announce early this year that no such protection was ever in place.

Namibia Mills CEO Koois Ferreira told the Economist recently that he can only speculate on the reason why Government has not implemented the infant Industry Protection for the broiler industry despite confirming the approval in writing to NPI and its financiers through the Ministry of Trade and Industry on 28 July 2011.

” We got insurance from ministry [Trade and Industry] that it has been granted, but I cannot tell you why the ministry has not implemented it yet,” he said.

In the mean time, Government has agreed to utilise the Import Export Control Act, 1994 to give the poultry investment interim protection.

Source: Fastmoving

Net income might rise by 16 percent to ¥50 billion (R4.5bn) in the year started April 1, Sony said. That compares with the ¥66.4bn average of 18 analyst estimates.

Hirai used job cuts, asset sales, a weaker yen and blockbuster movies to return the company to profit after four years of losses as the electronics business struggles to keep consumers from migrating to Samsung products. Samsung’s smartphones outsold Sony’s seven to one last year, and it’s flat-panel television generated more than triple that earned by Sony’s television sales.

” Sony is being bullish, ” Okasan Securities strategist Takashi Oba said. ” It’s up to whether it can reduce the losses in its electronics business and produce hit products.”

Sony posted a profit in the year to March after it earned about $2bn (R18bn) in one-time gains selling stock holdings and properties including its New York headquarters, a chemicals unit and shares in health-care data provider M3. Sony’s movie studio topped the US box-office last year with hits including Skyfall and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Net income last fiscal year was ¥43bn, the company said last week. Operating profit might rise to ¥230bn, Sony said, compared with the ¥208bn average of analyst estimates. Sales would increase 10 percent to ¥7.5 trillion.

” We’ve improved our cost structure and are able to pursue volume growth,” chief financial officer Masaru Kato said.

The television business, the world’s third-largest, was unprofitable for a ninth year in a row, with a loss of ¥69.9bn, excluding charges, amid sluggish demand and competition from Samsung and LG Electronics.

Sony’s share of revenue in the flat-panel television market fell to 7.8 percent compared with 27.7 percent for Samsung.

Sony expects to sell 16 million televisions this fiscal yea, up from 13.5 million. The company reiterated its target for the television unit to post a profit this year after racking up ¥800bn in loses since 2004.

Hirai’s plan to revive the consumer-electronics business focuses on games, cameras and mobile devices.

Source: Fastmoving

Headline earnings for the period decreased by 82% to R36m as a result of losses by the poultry operations.

Losses reported by the poultry operations had a material impact on the group’s operating profit which, at R64m, was 80% down on the same period for the previous year. The Feed and Other Africa operations’ profits were on the same level as for the previous year.

A cash outflow of R93m was reported for the period, increasing the net bank overdraft to R154m from R61m.

Revenue for the poultry division was up by 3.0% to R2.952bn on the back of higher chicken selling prices which improved by 6.1%. Chicken sales volumes were down by 5.8% and was largely attributable to a cutback in bird placements for the period under review.

A further increase in feed costs by 21.9% negatively impacted the operating profit of the division by R306m, with the operating profit decreasing by 183% to a loss of R117m.

The period under review was impacted by higher stock levels in the poultry industry, as poultry imports from Brazil and the European Union hit record highs during October and November 2012.

The all-inclusive agreement with the Competition Commission, which as been negotiated to settle all previous and current matters and investigations, is in the final stages of conclusion, with the settlement value of R17m having being fully provided for in the prior financial year. The agreement still remains to be confirmed as an order by the Competition Tribunal.

Industrial action experienced at the group’s Earlybird Olifantsfontein processing operation in Gauteng and the Country Fair poultry farms in the Western Cape, resulted in a direct cost of R37m for the period under review. In both instances the strikes were settled with a zero percentage increased in wages.

The farm workers’ minimum wage, which was legislated at R105 per day on March 1 2013, has been introduced with an annual cost to the group of R3.3m.

Contrary to prior expectations, the outlook for good maize crops in South Africa and the United States is less optimistic as a result of unfavourable weather conditions, which could lead to prolonged high feed input costs, albeit with some softening in grain prices in the coming six months off the highs of the past reporting period.

The slowing level of growth in the economy and higher unemployment levels will continue to depress consumer spending. This, coupled with high levels of poultry imports, will continue to hamper in the industry’s ability to recover the high input costs.

An application was made by the South African Poultry Association to the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) for the implementation of higher general tariffs on poultry imports.

This application was brought about by the large and rapid increase in the volume of extremely low-priced imported frozen poultry meat and, if successful, will go some way to improving the imbalance in the supply and demand of chicken.

Source: Fastmoving

Regional retailer, Nakumatt’s Holdings has announced plans to introduce a containerised mini retail stores. The outlets will provide shopping solutions during key events in remote locations.

The new retail store covering a shopping area of over 200 square feet will be developed housed in a 20 feet shipping container.

It will be available for rapid deployment countrywide.

Brand name

As part of the firm’s business expansion plans, the new store will be operated under the ‘ Nakumatt on Wheels ‘ ( NoW) brand. It will be, transported to any part of Kenya atop a 12-tonne truck. Speaking in Nairobi, when he confirmed the on-going project, Nakumatt Holdings Managing Director Atul Shah, confirmed that the first, NoW store, will be unveiled on June 1, during the forthcoming 25th Rhino Charge off road motoring event.

Shah said the stores will be shocked depending on the nature of event and location of further boost retail convenience in Kenya. ” By introducing NoW, we are keeping up with our mission to provide retail convenience to our Smart shoppers even in remote locations, ” Shah said. ” NoW will also enable us to support various fundraising initiatives ‘ geared at environmental conservation by encouraging our customers to participate.”

Currently undergoing structural fabrication at Nakumatt Headquarters, the NoW store will feature retail amenities such as computerised checkout tills and refrigeration units.

New service date

During this year’s Rhino Charge, Nakumatt will also unveil an express Pre-order service to serve the competing teams.

Source: Fastmoving