A quick look at Dis-Chem’s full-year results, presented last week, reveals a solid set of numbers for a business in the midst of strategic reinvention. With turnover +8.0% to R39.2bn, and operating profit +18.3%, the numbers point to good momentum, attributed to disciplined cost control, staffing efficiencies and inventory centralisation. While Dis-Chem’s dispensary market share is holding strong at 24.3%, other categories like personal care, healthcare, and baby care saw share losses, “in a world where more and more things are being sold on promotion,” according to CEO Rui Morais. The Group also announced that it is pushing hard on integrating primary care services through Dis-Chem Health, linking it to the extraRewards programme to boost in-store spend. At the same time, Dis-Chem Life, launched in February, offers affordable life and funeral insurance – in-store financial advisors have been introduced to 17 stores so far, with plans to expand to all stores by the end of FY2026. Looking ahead, the Group is focused on digitisation and building out a “health-first” ecosystem, with an ambitious space rollout plan and revamped loyalty mechanics. For more on those numbers, read our summary here.

Comment: The path forward is credible, and the vision is sound. But with so many moving parts, success will hinge not on ambition alone, but clear and patient execution.

More results, this time from SPAR for the six months ending 26 March. “A bit noisy,” is how they were described by CFO Reeza Isaacs, who chose not to sugarcoat the ongoing pressures facing the business. The big news in this round of numbers is the Group’s decision to exit its underperforming geographies, i.e. Poland, Switzerland and the UK, to focus on its core operations in Southern Africa and Ireland. Looking for the positives, SPAR2U continues to scale rapidly with delivery volumes up +174% and the platform’s partnership with Uber Eats is now operational in 130 stores. Build it also achieved solid growth, as did SPAR Health (its wholesale pharma business formerly known as S Buys), which posted a +13.7% revenue increase, driven by wholesale gains, improved loyalty and private label. For a closer look at the numbers, refer to our handy summary here.

Comment: SPAR is in a necessary but uncomfortable phase of its strategy where margins are still below target, dividends are withheld, and retail execution needs work. Will the business be able to scale what’s working to remain competitive? We sincerely hope so.

Well done to the new Spaza Shop Support Fund launched in April, which so far has disbursed R6m out of R500m in funding to spaza shop owners who met their registration deadline for operating licences. Administered by the National Empowerment Fund and the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency, the fund offers up to R300,000 in support per store through grants and low-interest loans for initial stock purchases, store improvements, business development tools, and POS systems. Roll-out has been slow thus far, but will hopefully pick up in pace as the kinks are ironed out. Next, Pick n Pay Hypers around the country are partnering with Feed the Nation in a campaign where shoppers are invited to donate a packet of soup costing R5. The aim is to collect over one million packs of soup, which will be donated to 2,675 primary schools as well as local civil charities surrounding each hyper. And finally, congratulations to Boxer on reaching the merry milestone of 2 million Boxer Reward members this week! As you will recall, the programme was launched in October last year and is reportedly well received by Boxer shoppers.

Did you know that Americans consume about 70 hot dogs per person per year? That’s according to the US National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, whose existence we find almost more unbelievable than the numbers they claim. But if they are indeed correct, it explains why Walmart is partnering with hot-dog franchise Wienerschnitzel in its stores, and also why for Wienerschnitzel cosying up with the country’s biggest retailer can only be a good thing. “Wienerschnitzel has spent decades building a strong reputation [...] and this expansion into Walmart stores signifies a new era of growth for the brand,” says Shak Turner, director of franchise expansion for the hot-dog brand. Still Stateside, Mondelēz International is suing Aldi’s US business for “blatantly” copying the packaging of its famous biscuits, including, but not limited to, Oreo and Chips Ahoy! A quick look at the pack shots here confirms that Mondelēz has a case. We’ll see what the courts think. Over in the UK, Tesco is trialling shorter opening hours in some of its Express stores, closing them an hour earlier than the usual 11pm. It is hoped that the move will make the outlets in question more “efficient” and “simpler”. The union representing Tesco employees is not happy with the change, saying that “we will be monitoring the trials closely to assess the impact on our members”. And across the Channel in France, Lidl has shown how gen AI can be used to create a viral marketing campaign where the punters do all the work. An app called “Lidlize” was launched by the retailer, which allowed users to create images of pretty much anything – cars, shoes, gaming consoles, their pets – in the red, blue and yellow colours of Lidl. 1.7 million unique visuals were created with the app in three weeks, and at one point, image requests reached a high of over 1,000 per minute.

Almost a year ago to the day, we reported in the Tatler how Tiger Brands “posted a so-so set of interims” while planning some major changes in its portfolio over the short to medium term. A spin around the sun later shows that the strategy is a win, with the business enjoying a bullish turnaround, thanks in no small measure to the brave leadership of relatively new CEO, Tjaart Kruger. In its latest interims announcement, the business reported that it ended the period with a net cash position of R5.9bn compared to net debt of R2.7bn a year ago, thanks to the disposal of certain non-core assets (such as its Baby Wellbeing division, its share in a Chile-based FMCG group and its local deciduous fruit business). And it’s not done yet. H2 will see the business continue to rationalise its portfolio, while investing in brands to maintain operational momentum. The markets were rather chuffed with the news, pushing Tiger’s share price up to a seven-year high last week. In other Tiger news, this month KOO will be honouring moms across the country with the ‘A Song for Ma’ competition, a tribute campaign calling on scholars to compose, perform and post their best Gwijo – a traditional form of call-and-response singing – on the socials in honour of South African mother figures. Participants stand a chance to win cash prizes of up to R30,000 for themselves and prizes to the value of R200,000 for their school.

How far can South Africans stretch R10? Pepsi is on a mission to find out, teaming up with amapiano artist, LeeMcKrazy and music-industry legend Oskido to put the spotlight on the kasi hustlers and get-up-and-goers who make things happen with the limited resources at their disposal. Through the #BigUp750ml digital campaign, Pepsi is challenging South Africans to share how they stretch R10 in their daily hustle and turn a little into something big, especially this Youth Month. The best stories will be recognised and rewarded, with Pepsi giving back to those who grind the hardest. Next, Nestlé has announced a US$7m investment to expand its cereal manufacturing facility in Harare, Zimbabwe. The investment will boost production capacity by over 35% and is part of Nestlé’s long-term ‘Africa for Africa’ strategy, which champions local manufacturing, sourcing, and talent development to build more self-reliant food systems across the continent. And finally, the Beer Association of SA (Basa) has warned that the above-inflation increase in sin taxes of 6.75% is going to put pressure on small businesses and traders. It also warns that it will contribute to the growth of the illicit alcohol trade, which, according to Basa, already accounts for around 22% of total alcohol consumption, and costs South Africa R11.3bn in lost revenue annually.

Interest rate cut, GDP scrapping together +0.1% growth and +16c/l added to fuel levy By Ti Economist, Carey Leighton

Last Thursday, the SA Reserve Bank announced a -25 basis points cut to the interest rate, bringing prime down to 10.75%, a level last seen in Jan 2023. This cut comes amid low inflation (largely due to fuel) and a concerning revision to GDP growth for 2025, now at +1.2% (was +1.7%). Speaking of GDP, Q1/2025 results were released on Tuesday. Q1/2025’s +0.1% quarter-on-quarter growth was supported by increased output for agricultural (incl. forestry and fishing); transport; trade (incl. retail, wholesale and catering and accommodation); and finance. The other six industries reported declines… certainly not ideal. And then yesterday, the increase to the fuel levy, announced in the budget, kicked in with petrol levy up +16c/l and diesel levy +15c/l. The stronger rand and lower international oil price masked the levy increase at the pumps, but it does mean that 30% of the fuel price is now made up of taxes.

Comment: Trade Intelligence’s monthly SA Economic Report is where you will find a wrap-up of these indicators and more (with lots of graphs). Have a look at our handy one-page snapshot here.