FMCG SUPPLIER NEWS

Growthpoint Properties has acquired a strategic site in Blackheath, Cape Town for a quality, tenant-tailored industrial property development. read more

Ackermans stores in South Africa will be closed for trade on Sunday, 15 December 2013.  read more

The upward moving alcohol levy has continues to eat into Sechaba sales volumes. The Traditional Beer Regulations that were effected last year, have reduced the sales of opague liquor brands, Chibuku and Phafana by 2.,4 percent. read more

Cape Town - Those who talk about land grabs do not really understand the finances of the wine industry, according to Johann Rupert. read more

Washington, D.C. – Retail sales in November increased a better-than-expected 0.7% seasonally-adjusted month-to-month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. (The figure includes categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations, and restaurants.) Analysts were expecting sales to rise 0.6% in last month. The latest retail sales numbers were 4.7% above November 2012 numbers.  read more

Due to popular demand, Cotton On Body opened their second stand-alone Cotton On Body store in South Africa at Blue Route Mall, Tokai, on 7 December 2013.  read more

[Cape Town, 12 December 2013] Pick n Pay Chief Executive Richard Brasher announced today that all profits from sales in its stores on Sunday 15 December will be donated to charitable causes in honour of the memory and legacy of former President Nelson Mandela.  read more

Zambian Breweries has reportedly abandoned its two major expansion projects worth over 130 million US dollars following government’s decision to introduce 60 percent excise duty on clear beer. read more

2013 is set to be the PC market’s worst year on record, finds new data from the IDC, with PC shipments expected to fall by 10.1%. read more

Brussels - European Union lawmakers approved a fisheries agreement with Morocco on Tuesday, two years after rejecting an earlier proposal because of concerns the pact would strengthen Rabat's control over the disputed Western Sahara.  read more

On the edge of the Cradle of Humankind, one of eight UNESCO World Heritage sites in South Africa, Cradlestone Mall has been built to serve the needs of the growing residential and business population to the northwest of Johannesburg. read more

Engen Sea Point Convenience Centre, located along the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town, became the 50th Quickshop convenience centre with a Woolworths Foodstop when it opened its doors to the public recently after a significant revamp. read more

Massmart Holdings will close its stores on Sunday, 15 December 2013.  read more

This week, Makro SA scooped a prestigious eta award for its energy efficient new generation stores at Eskom’s 24th eta Awards ceremony.  read more

Following the successful introduction of Country Road and Trenery to South Africa, Woolworths will exclusively offer the iconic Australian brands Witchery and Mimco from March 2014.  read more

Johannesburg - The price of Rooibos tea will rise by 15% from January next year because of supply constraints and growing demand, producer Rooibos Limited said on Tuesday. read more

Cape town - Following on China’s recent significant investments in the French wine industry, especially in Bordeaux, they have also made their first investment in the South African wine industry. read more

DionWired has embraced the multichannel retail concept with the launch of its brand new website, which was developed to give consumers a highly positive, symmetrical shopping experience between the web and the brick-and-mortar stores. read more

Massmart’s anticipated new format Builders Superstore opened on 29 November 2013 in Gauteng. A total of 58 job opportunities were created with the opening of the two new stores in Tembisa and Evaton. The new format will service customers with homes situated in dense residential, township, rural and developing areas, and will be conveniently located near commuter nodes  read more

Fears have emerged that the Treasury may not be able to meet its excise tax targets following a decision to impose a 50 per cent duty on low cost beer Senator Keg. read more

Indigenous liquor production giant, Kasapreko Company Limited, has been awarded for promoting festivals in Ghana. The company was adjudged the award at this year's National Tourism Awards held at the State Banquet Hall in Accra. read more

SIMONIS Storm Securities expect inflation to hover above 6,5% next year based on a lower base this year but additionally based on the price movements in key categories.  read more

Ninety percent of office and restaurant space at The Grove Mall of Namibia, which is currently under construction in Kleine Kuppe in Windhoek, has already been taken. read more

The growth of the South African economy was held back and activity slowed in the third quarter of 2013, the SA Reserve Bank said on Tuesday.  read more

Cape Town - Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, the owner of the Cartier brand, fell the most in more than two months after chairman Johann Rupert said he’s very concerned that the global economy is in a precarious position. read more

Johannesburg - South African yellow-corn futures rose to the highest level in more than 15 months in Johannesburg trading. read more

Harare - John Moxon, the chairman of Zimbabwe’s Meikles Africa, which runs TM Supermarkets jointly with South African grocer Pick n Pay, is bullish about future prospects in the country’s retail industry, saying the company has adopted a robust expansion plan to capitalise on the expected shift for the better in consumer spending patterns.  read more

Moscow - Russia plans to raise minimum vodka prices next year as it seeks to reduce consumption of alcohol, despite risks that drinkers will resort instead to cheaper illegal liquor. read more

Johannesburg - A Chilean group's $1.2bn (R12.6bn) bid for drugmaker Adcock Ingram [JSE:AIP] was challenged on two fronts on Monday, as a group led by Bidvest [JSE:BVT] sought nearly a third of Adcock's shares and launched a court action against the bid. read more

Zambian Breweries (ZB) has halted the construction of the K173 million malting plant following Government’s reintroduction of a 60 per cent excise duty on clear beer in the 2014 National Budget.  read more

The Meat Board and unions representing the interest of farmers in the country have backed the country’s biggest meat producer, Meatco, to request that it should get the biggest shares of the 1 600 tonnes export quota to Norway.  read more

New research finds banking group Absa’s CashSend to be the most popular mobile money system in South Africa. read more

South Africa has jumped one position in its global web standing, ranking 35th overall out of 81 countries in an index which measures the use, utility and impact of the web on the world’s people and nations. read more

After an improved performance at the half year, Pick n Pay is demonstrating its commitment to pursuing positive growth through focused, streamlined operations and an expanding store footprint, with plans to open over 60 new stores in the six months to end February 2014. read more

Woolworths opened its 50th Foodstop at Engen in Sea Point, Cape Town, yesterday, in line with its strategy to bring Woolworths quality and convenience to more customers.  read more

Undertaking an extensive expansion programme while minimising the impact on an estimated 24 million visitors per annum is no small feat. In a R140 million upgrade to its Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre, the V&A Waterfront has managed to not only improve its retail trade performance over the nine month construction period, but also increase the number of visitors to the Centre over the same period. read more

Johannesburg - Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd., the South African drugmaker subject to a $1.2 billion takeover bid from Chile’s CFR Pharmaceuticals SA, suspended its dividend after full-year profit and margins fell as import costs rose. read more

Johannesburg - Retailer Foschini Group [JSE:TFGP] said on Thursday it planned to more than double its African presence in the next five years, a day after a rival pulled the plug on the key Nigerian market. read more

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney will no longer be included on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.  read more

Cape Town - The extreme drought, that forced livestock farmers in many parts of the country to slaughter "up to a third" of their livestock, will lead to a serious shortage of red meat. read more

There has been significant increase in per-hectare yield of rice farms in the Atwima-Mponua District following the introduction of improved technologies. - See more at: http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2013/11/25/rice-production-goes-up-in-atwima-mponua/#sthash.vcQUOSi0.dpuf read more

The Naivas chain of supermarkets has opened a new branch, Mountain Mall, on the Thika superhighway. This is the chain's 29th store.  read more

Government has with immediate effect banned the trading and marketing of pigs and its products to help in the fight against African swine fever. read more

Seoul - South Korean markets took in stride a US federal jury's order for Samsung to pay $290 million in damages to Apple, with Samsung shares going up 0.69 percent on Friday. read more

Johannesburg - Shares of South Africa's RCL Foods fell 1.6 percent on Friday, a day after the company said it would issue $394 million in stock to acquire two sugar businesses from its top shareholder Remgro Ltd. read more

Berlin - The German economy slowed in the third quarter despite a strong pickup in both corporate investment and government spending, data released Friday showed.  read more

Johannesburg - Ascendis Health debuted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Friday, after raising more than R450m in a share sale to fund acquisitions. read more

Millers are grappling with stockpiles of maize bran after Government halted the export of the commodity in September this year. read more

London - Britain's Tesco, battling plunging profits in mainland Europe, is to sell off land around its stores in Poland for development to make the sites more attractive to shoppers.  read more

Johannesburg - The first interest rate hiking by the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) will most likely only be in 2015, according to John Loos, FNB's household and property sector strategist. read more

The Liberty Group announced today significant plans to further entrench its Liberty Midlands Mall investment as the lifestyle centre of choice for tenants and shoppers in the Pietermaritzburg area. read more

Ghana’s first cassava based beer, Ruut Extra premium beer, has been adjudged the 2012 Emerging Brand of the year by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) at its 24th National Awards held Friday September 13, 2013. read more

Agriculture and Livestock Minister Bob Sichinga has disclosed that Zambia was on a strong position in terms of food security in the African region. read more

Eskom has declared an electricity supply emergency, and is urging customers to severely curtail usage from Tuesday (19 November) onwards. read more

Johannesburg - The EU is preparing a ban on South African citrus imports that could take orange juice off Europe’s breakfast tables next summer and sour efforts in Brussels to broaden trade with Africa’s biggest economy. read more

Johannesburg - The value of debit card fraud losses decreased by 42 percent between January and September this year compared to the same period last year, the SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) said on Monday.  read more

Brewing giant Namibia Breweries Ltd (NBL) says local production of malted barley and other related crops will result in a financial boost to the agricultural sector as farmers are expected to generate around N$200 million in revenue annually. read more

There is a proliferation of shopping malls in Gaborone, in the last decade, raising questions of whether locals have the spending power to sustain the malls, economically. Property developers concede that the retail property market is subdued but remains one of the most viable business propositions to date. read more

Johannesburg - South African shares put in a second straight day of gains on Friday with drugs maker Adcock in focus after Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals formally bid $1.2bn to acquire it.  read more

Motorola is betting that low-cost smartphones can provide the spark to rekindle its struggling business, even as the company’s ownership by Google Inc will force it to sit out of China, the world’s largest smartphone market. read more

Shares of Illovo Sugar fall more than 2 percent after the South African company says tough market conditions are likely to negatively impact its full-year earnings. read more

Business confidence in the manufacturing sector was weak in the third quarter of this year, according to a Manufacturing Circle survey. read more

The South African wool market held on to last week’s gains and remained steady for this week, Cape Wools said on Wednesday. read more

The North West provincial government is on a drive to create 20 000 jobs, starting on December 1. read more

Uchumi Supermarket has received approvals to trade its shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange. read more

Game Gateway will launch its ‘Fresh for Less’ range on 13 November in time for Christmas. This will be the first store in KZN to get a taste of Game’s fresh food offering that has converted numerous shoppers in the Western Cape and Gauteng since its first appearance in the Western Cape in November 2010. read more

Johannesburg - Retailer Mr Price on Tuesday posted interim earnings growth of 22% because of sales growth and said it plans to open over 40 stores in the second half of the year. read more

A new deal between MTN and Visa will enable MTN Mobile Money users to make face-to-face and online transactions wherever Visa is accepted.  read more

Johannesburg - Chile's CFR on Monday threatened to pull out its R13.48bn (at Monday's rand/dollar exchange rate) deal to buy drug maker Adcock Ingram if it does not win support from the state pension fund that ranks as Adcock's biggest shareholder. read more

Cape Town - The permanent employment sector in SA has seen modest gains for the first time in 15 months, according to the latest Adcorp Employment Index.  read more

Kenya Breweries has unveiled East Africa’s first whisky festival to grow the drink’s sales. The drive, which is a campaign driven themed ‘Love Whisky Festival’ will take place during this month in different venues around Nairobi. read more

Johannesburg - Truworths International Ltd., South Africa’s largest listed clothing retailer, fell the most in more than four years as inflation curbed consumer spending and slowed its sales growth. read more

In just under three weeks, Pick n Pay will open its new store at the V&A Waterfront, bringing an unprecedented retail offering to the central Cape Town area. Located in a prime and highly accessible position on the lower level of the Victoria Wharf, the store will start trading at 10am on Thursday 28 November 2013. read more

Retail group TFG (The Foschini Group) has increased total retail sales by 9% to R6.7-billion with sales in the rest of Africa growing 25% in the six months to the end of September 2013. Cash sales in this period grew by 12.7%.  read more

Named for its unique location, the newly developed Cradlestone Mall in the heart of Mogale City in Johannesburg’s West Rand - near the world heritage site of the Cradle of Humankind - officially opens its doors on 20 November 2013. read more

Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) has launched a bottle moulding plant that will produce containers that are shatterproof and easy to store, carry, clean up and reseal.  read more

The annual rate of inflation for the month of October 2013 has reduced to 6.9% compared to 7.0% recorded in September 2013.  read more

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of Namibia, which represents the interest of dairy and meat importers and exporters, has said that the recent decision by government to limit the amount of milk imported into the country will limit consumer choices.  read more

BlackBerry is abandoning a plan to sell itself and instead will replace its chief executive officer and raise about $1 billion from institutional investors, including its largest shareholder, the smartphone maker said on Monday.  read more

South African consumers are the second most satisfied in the world, according to the South African Consumer Satisfaction Index (Sacsi), with MTN and Apple appealing most in the ICT space.  read more

Johannesburg - The strike at SA Breweries (SAB) is over, the company said on Tuesday.  read more

Johannesburg - Woolworths had signed a deal to regain 100 percent control of its previously franchised stores in four African countries, the high-end retailer has said.  read more

Edcon, South Africa’s largest non-food retailer, and Kobo, a global leader in eReading, today announced that Kobo eReaders are now available at 91 CNA stores, one of the largest book and stationary retailers in the country.  read more

FNB reports that monthly non-cash purchases by customers in its consumer segment have surpassed cash withdrawals at its ATMs by R800 million.  read more

Cape Town - The South African wine industry can look forward to a good, but smaller 2014 wine grape harvest than the record harvest obtained this year.  read more

Johannesburg -Shoprite [JSE:SHP] reported a 10% rise in July-September sales on Monday, helped by a strong showing at its sub-Saharan stores outside its struggling home market. read more

Sugar importers have asked for two weeks to discuss the new regulations that are to be introduced by the Kenya Sugar Board to regulate the market.  read more

London - Diageo, the world's biggest spirits group which has a presence in SA, should see sales growth in Africa accelerate as it expands into new markets like Ethiopia and Angola and as rising incomes enable traditional beer drinkers to try spirits, it has said read more

Johannesburg - Corn futures in South Africa rose to the highest levels in more than four months by the midday close in Johannesburg.  read more

Sporting an appealing mix of successful retailers guaranteed and construction progressing apace, the vision for the R400 million Eyethu Orange Farm Mall to become a successful, profitable asset for the community of Orange Farm is within reach.  read more

Ghana has been voted the Vice Chairman of the Union of African Shippers Council (UASC) for the first time in the history of the organisation. read more

Construction of commercial space is turning out a lucrative venture for landlords in Nakuru as letting prices appreciate. Prices have doubled from Sh20-30 per square foot a month three years ago to Sh60-70 per square foot, a spot check by the Star reveals. read more

Indigenous liquor giant, Kasapreko Company Limited (KCL) placed sixth in the 2013 Ghana Club 100 ranking. read more

Uchumi supermarkets could grind to a halt next Wednesday if employees make good their threat to down their tools. The Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers has issued a strike notice dated October 9 to pressurise the supermarket chain's management to meet workers' demands for higher pay. read more

THE Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF) is scouting for US$21 million to set up milling plants in 25 districts. read more

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores plans to open as many as 110 stores in China between 2014 and 2016, as well as several new Sam’s Club locations there. The new stores will employ as many as 19,000 people. read more

Mr Price Group Ltd. advanced to a record high after the South African clothing and furniture retailer said earnings climbed 18 to 22 percent even as household budgets tightened. read more

Berlin - Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, has vowed to cut the near 60 000 tonnes of food wasted by its suppliers and shoppers each year, the latest firm volunteering to help tackle a growing environmental problem. read more

Cape Town – The persistent weakness in the perception of SA in international media coverage is the under-representation of SA’s business sector and the difficulty to identify a business leader or leaders “representative" of the country. read more

Johannesburg - South African beauty and pharmaceutical retailer, Clicks, has said trading over the Christmas holiday season is critical to its fiscal 2014 performance as consumer spending remains weak read more