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A tidy trading update from Clicks, whose share price jumped to a record high on the news that Headline Earnings Per Share (HEPS), broadly considered a reliable indicator of profitability, would be up to the tune of between +15% and +18% for the financial year through August 2019. This, they say, is attributable to a solid performance by Clicks in the second half, by pharmaceutical distributor UPD racking up some new contracts, and by improvements in the management of working capital across the business. Clicks, you will recall, is trading out of around 680 stores, with 528 pharmacies, either standalone or in store, and as of February 2019 owns almost 24% of the retail pharmacy market, with an eye on the 30% mark. UPD, South Africa’s largest full-service pharmaceutical distributor, grew turnover by about +22% to R10.2bn for the period.

Comment: Note to the young retailer, just starting out in the business: just do what Clicks does and you’ll be OK.

At Shoprite’s last AGM, you may recall, 73% of ordinary shareholders voted against the Group’s remuneration policy; now, it seems, they have sort of taken that to heart. They’ve announced that short-term bonuses for 11 directors including the CEO and the CFO will be based on a set of five criteria – hitherto unnamed – rather than the single measure of trading profit, as they used to be. These criteria will come into effect only next year. The structure for long-term incentives is TB eventually D, and will be presented at next year’s AGM, hopefully to general acclaim rather than howls of rage. In not unrelated news, Christo Wiese’s director fees have almost doubled to just north of R1.2m, for a healthy increase of +205% over the last couple of years. On the upside, or the down, depending on your perspective, he’s no longer Shoprite’s largest individual shareholder, having sold 19 million ordinary shares this last twelvemonth.

Comment: Time, don’t you think, for the Big Red One to move out of this ambit of boardroom shenanigans and just focus on the aisles.

Still on the sticky subject of director’s remuneration, Woolies execs have foregone their bonuses for three years running – except for CEO Zyda Rylands – who received a short-term incentive bonus to the value of R2.1m. The Woolies SA bonus pool was cut by -50% this year, and Country Road and David Jones by -50% and -65% respectively. Good news for the little guy is that store staff shared a bonus pool of R48m and supply chain staff one of R8m, leaving management to scrap over the R63m that remained. In other Woolies news, their VIP Club – for punters spending R2,500 and more each month in their stores – is looking for new ways to reward the high flyers for their service. Currently they’re getting a once-off discount of R75 for spending up to R350 and 10% off on their birthday. This year The Dapper One upped the ante, offering these shoppers 40% off on a limited number of Emirates flights, and are looking at adding lifestyle and fitness offers to the mix.

Comment: Shrewd move, to cement the loyalty of Woolies’ higher-spending base.

Tesco CEO David Lewis is leaving the building next year after a torrid five years at the helm, having stepped straight into an accounting scandal in 2014, presiding over losses and job cuts, sales (of Korean chain Homeplus) and acquisitions (of cash & carry giant Booker) and sundry other changes, like the revamp of the entire private label range. Tesco are by no means out of the woods, of course. But to paraphrase another great Brit, they’re still standing, and that’s due in no small part to this tough and canny exec. In other Tesco news, they’ve just taken a chunk of tech start-up Trigo Vision, which specialises in checkout-free shopping. And in yet more Tesco news, local food services outfit Bidvest, is selling its UK supply chain operation Best Food Logistics to the above-mentioned Booker Group.

Comment: That’s a lot. Perhaps of greatest significance is the Trigo bit: we’ll be surprised if there is a single cashier standing ten years from now.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has announced new regulations that will enable inspections of meat processing plants to avoid tragedies like the listeriosis outbreak which was responsible for 185 deaths in 2017 and 2018. The regulations will be applied by DTI enforcer the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS). No word from the industry as to how it’s taking this, but government officials are absolutely mustard for it. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize?: “This denotes an era of governance where there is effective multi-sectoral collaboration to protect our people from environmental dangers, while at the same time protecting food and job security.” Indeed. Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel?: “Our food industry is important to the country’s economic development and job creation. Jobs in the food industry must be secured through measures that provide consumers with appropriate protection.” Couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

Comment: Sound measures that should protect consumers and industry alike.

Classy green beer Amstel walked into an epic marketing fail last week when three indigenous bushwillow trees were cut down in Maboneng so that passersbys would have an unimpeded view of an Amstel billboard – admittedly, without the knowledge of the brand itself. To its credit, Amstel immediately removed the offending banner, and committed itself to a partnership with Food & Trees for Africa, which focuses on urban greening, to plant fifty trees around Joburg in the next couple of weeks. At this point it’s uncertain who was responsible for the blunder, although it seems likely that it might have had something to do with advertising or media. Amstel, which is owned by Heineken, joins a rogue’s gallery of other businesses to have messed up like this – Coke, for example, which printed bad language on some of the cans in a campaign aimed at increasing social cohesion by featuring popular South African names on its packaging.

Comment: But a textbook case of damage control from Amstel, and moving on positively from a rough learning experience.

The Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) fell to its lowest level since the Great Recession for the month of September, signalling an ongoing slowing in the manufacturing sector. This against a backdrop of weak domestic demand and concerns about the international economy, particularly our major trading partners in Europe – manufacturing data from both the EU and the States is also looking shaky. In other economic news, it appears that South Africans are increasingly going into debt just to put food on the table, according to Debt Rescue CEO Neil Roets. Measures include store cards, credit cards and payday loans. He also highlights a regime of belt-tightening among consumers, who have cut down on luxuries small and large, including meals out and takeaways.

Comment: Hard times, and hard problems to fix.