AUSTRALIA NEWS ON FASTMOVING

Highlights • Turnover up 23.2% • Profit before tax up 27.1% • Headline earnings per share up 27.3% (52 weeks: 25.3%) • Return on equity up from 46.4% to 49.7% • Cash dividend of 148 cents declared  read more

A surge in Woolworths’ sales, which bucked the weaker sales growth trend of ailing local retailers, was because the food and fashion retailer was not dependent on credit like its competitors, analysts have said.  read more

Johannesburg - Global factors are the main contributors to the current volatility of the rand, analysts said on Wednesday. read more

Mastercard unveiled its bid to dominate the mobile payments market on Monday with a ‘virtual wallet’ allowing customers to keep personal payment details in their phone and avoid checkouts by scanning bar codes in-store to pay. read more

Johannesburg - Retailer Woolworths Holdings [JSE:WHL] reported a 21% rise in first-half profit chiefly as a result of contributions from its recent acquisition in Australia. read more

Sydney, "Be polite but not too familiar, display lucky symbols and take things slowly." unusual advice for the frantic world of retail but Australian stores hope it will help lure cashed-up Chinese tourists.  read more

Coopers will soon ramp up the marketing activity behind its new international beer brands, Carlsberg and Kronenbourg, having recently announced a $20 million capital expansion programme to accommodate its continued sales growth. read more

New York -- Australian import Lorna Jane will open the largest store in its U.S. portfolio, a 3,000-sq.-ft. unit in San Francisco, in February. read more

Abu Dhabi - Dutch food retailer Spar International plans to enter the Middle East, aiming to have 30 stores in the region by the end of 2015, its managing director said on Sunday. read more

The UK remains Australia’s biggest wine export market, increasing by three per cent in 2012 according to a report released by Wine Australia. read more

Coles' food and liquor division this week reported strong overall quarterly sales figures and new liquor marketing boss, Cameron MacFarlane (pictured), believes brighter times are around the corner for his division. read more

A global race for grain trading power is putting more of the world's vital cereals in the hands of fewer companies, with a string of recent acquisitions raising fears that consumers will pay even more for their food, while farmers are squeezed. read more

SABMiller Plc. (SAB), the world’s second- largest brewer, will send its Victoria Bitter beer the way of New Coke, discarding a recipe change that saw VB overtaken as Australia’s top seller by Kirin Holdings Co. (2503)’s XXXX Gold.  read more

Johannesburg - Retailer Woolworths Holdings [JSE:WHL] slightly beat forecasts with a 24.2% rise in full-year profit on Thursday, helped by share buy backs and resilient demand for its upscale grocery products. read more

When the Chilean wine writer Eduardo Brethauer thinks of his home country, he conjures the soft tannins of the carmenere grape, the mineral flavours from vineyards planted by the Pacific Ocean and cabernet sauvignon grown high in the mountains. read more

Soybean and corn prices rose to their highest levels in 10 days on Monday amid the worst drought in half a century, with traders set to get fresh evidence of the extent of damage from the Midwest farm belt.  read more

Australian retail mogul Solomon Lew has lashed out at Woolworths, accusing the South African company of using the planned acquisition by Country Road of fashion group Witchery to force him out of Country Road, legal letters revealed yesterday.  read more

Johannesburg – The 2012-13 wool season will open this Wednesday‚ when about 13‚000 bales will be on offer at auction in Port Elizabeth.  read more

Johannesburg - Retailer Woolworths Holdings [JSE:WHL] announced on Wednesday that its indirectly-held subsidiary‚ Country Road‚ has entered into an agreement to acquire the Witchery Group from Gresham Private Equity for A$172m. Witchery is one of Australia’s leading fashion brands. read more

JSE-listed Woolworths on Friday failed to shed any further light on a possible transaction between Gresham Private Equity and its Australian subsidiary, Country Road.  read more

Record dairy profits and milder weather are leading to a surge in milk supplies from Auckland to California, turning last year’s best-performing commodity contract into one of the worst of 2012. read more

London - Global brewer SABMiller [JSE:SAB] said its newly-acquired Foster’s business has lost a licence to import and distribute Corona Extra lager in Australia. read more

Metcash has reached an agreement with Ritchies for the sale of nine Franklins stores, which will be rebranded under the IGA banner read more

Port Elizabeth - The first South African wool sale of the new year opened on a positive note when wool prices rose sharply, Cape Wools said on Wednesday. read more

Falling consumption and a record crop will see cotton prices fall significantly next year according to analysts of the cotton market as stockpiles reach their biggest since 2005. read more

An Australian court overturned a decision by the country's competition watchdog to block wholesale firm Metcash buying stores from South Pick n Pay Stores [JSE:PIK] - a precedent that may make it harder to challenge future deals. read more

Sydney - An Australian court on Wednesday reversed a ban on the sale of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy tablet computers in the country, handing it a rare victory against rival Apple in the firms' intensifying global patent war.  read more

Sydney - Australia on Friday approved brewer SABMiller's AU$9.9bn takeover of Foster's, but with strict conditions that will see key operations remain in the country.  read more

Australian retail sales unexpectedly fell and building approvals dropped in May by the most in four months, sending the nation’s currency lower on expectations the central bank will extend a pause in raising interest rates. read more