EMERGING MARKETS NEWS ON FASTMOVING

In an extremely competitive market, customers have responded positively to decisive action by Pick n Pay to improve the shopping trip. In the first six months to 01 September 2013, the company delivered an improved financial performance over the previous period, growing Group till sales (owned and franchise stores) by 8.1%.  read more

SABMiller suffered its biggest weekly decline in more than two years last week as a strike at its South African beer operations continued and Unilever said sales growth slowed in emerging markets.  read more

Johannesburg - Africa’s CEOs are optimistic about the prospects for growth over the next 12 months, according to the PWC Africa Business Agenda 2013. read more

Last week’s Nairobi’s Westgate Mall attacks had hammered Kenya’s general retailer, Nakumatt, one of Africa’s most home-based business triumphs, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).  read more

South Africa’s GDP per capita is anticipated to grow by US$241 a year between 2010 and 2020, due to an increase in mobile phone subscriptions.  read more

Today, around 85% of all retail payment transactions are done with cash, which equates to 60% of retail transaction value, while 34% of all consumer payments ($63 trillion in total spend) are done with cash. read more

The consolidation of the global beer industry, which took SA Breweries from a dominant South African player to a dominant global player in just 10 years, had not come to an end, Alan Clark, SABMiller’s recently appointed chief executive, said this week. read more

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Zambia as one of the top 10 most competitive economies in Africa for 2013. read more

Paris - L’Oréal SA, the world’s largest cosmetics maker, confirmed its full-year targets after reporting a 7.7 percent increase in first-half earnings as stronger sales in emerging markets fuelled improved profitability.  read more

Johannesburg - Despite the competitive environment and constrained consumer spending, building material retailer Cashbuild plans to add more than 10 stores in the next financial year.  read more

Ovum estimates that the number of smartphones in emerging markets will reach nearly 50% by 2017, which translates to over two billion devices. read more

Nestlé, the world's biggest food group, missed first-half sales forecasts and trimmed its 2013 target on Thursday, after it cut prices in Europe in a bid to lure recession-hit shoppers.  read more

Johannesburg - Massmart Holdings, the South African unit of Walmart Stores, said on Tuesday its first-half earnings rose by as much as 57%, lifted by favourable exchange rates. read more

Johannesburg - Massmart Holdings, South Africa’s biggest food and household-goods wholesaler, said it has met “several important players” in Kenya’s retail industry as the unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. seeks expansion abroad. read more

Frankfurt - German cosmetics group Beiersdorf said on Wednesday that strong demand for its Nivea hand cream and Labello lip balm in emerging markets lifted its second quarter sales and profits.  read more

Johannesburg - Estee Lauder plans to expand its presence in sub-Saharan Africa by rolling out its $1bn brands, Clinique and MAC, to tap into strong demand for luxury cosmetics among the region's middle class, a company executive said on Wednesday. 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

London - Unilever has become more cautious about prospects for emerging markets, a big growth driver for the consumer goods company, which reported underlying second-quarter sales growth shy of market expectations. read more

When Cyril Ramaphosa resigns at this year’s annual general meeting later this month, SAB/SABMiller will, for the first time in its 118-year history, not have any South African non-executive directors on its board. read more

New York - The growing appeal of smaller format stores and the increasing number of international moves by emerging market retailers are two of the key trends revealed in the Accenture Globalization Index, Quarter One 2013. read more

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker, global shipments of smart connected devices (PCs, tablets, and smartphones) are expected to surpass 1.7 billion units by 2014, with roughly 1 billion units delivered to emerging markets. read more

WINDHOEK - The long-awaited brewery in Okahandja to be built by SABMiller took a concrete step towards fruition late last month when the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Tjekero Tweya, officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new brewery.  read more

Global smartphone shipments are expected to reach 958.8 million units in 2013, surpassing feature phone shipments for the first time, the IDC says. read more

Cape Town - Illovo-based Imara S P Reid Stockbrokers is about to open up African share and bond markets to local retail investors. read more

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. announced Monday that it will introduce the Gap brand to Paraguay and Hungary through new agreements with existing franchise partners: Neutral for Paraguay and Gottex Brands for Hungary.  read more

VENTURES AFRICA. JSE-listed general retailer, Massmart, on Wednesday said it will start paying more attention to store growth in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. read more

A new property sector is opening up in African markets as retailers growing their presence there are now in need of or building their own distribution warehouses, according to Belinda Clur, managing director of Clur Research International. read more

Google Inc intends to finance, build and help operate wireless networks from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, hoping to connect a billion or so people in emerging countries to the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. 

Brussels - SABMiller [JSE:SAB], the world's second biggest brewer, reported profit growth in line with expectations thanks to a surge in earnings in Latin America and Africa and said its markets should be broadly unchanged in the coming months.  read more

Lenovo Group Ltd’s bold acquisitions in its flagship PC business, a foray into mobile gadgets, and a relatively light debt load are setting it apart from PC rivals as industry shipments take their steepest fall in decades. read more

Johannesburg – For the third consecutive month in May‚ South Africa continued to be the least-favoured major emerging market according to fund managers polled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  read more

VENTURES AFRICA – SABMiller reported in April this year that full year lager volumes in Africa surged 6 percent on the back of additional capacity coming on stream and enhanced availability. read more

Johannesburg - Foreign direct investment from emerging markets into Africa outpaced that from developed markets in 2012, but the number of new FDI projects into the continent fell 12 percent from the previous year, Ernst & Young said on Monday. read more

Unilever’s breadth of businesses and markets would enable it to ride out the tough environment in Europe, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company said yesterday as it reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter growth. read more

Diageo’s third-quarter sales missed estimates, the biggest distiller reported yesterday, as sluggish European demand and slower-than-expected growth in emerging markets offset expansion in the US.  read more

New York - The Wall Street Journal says Apple is set for a possible summer launch of the next iPhone, rather than a fall launch like the last two models. read more

Washington - Personal computer industry pioneer Michael Dell would “invest for growth” and compete aggressively in new markets if his plan to take the company he founded private succeeds, according to a new memo. read more

Lisbon - No matter how Cyprus's financial drama ends, its troubles show yet again that rich countries enfeebled by the great financial crisis remain a weak link in the world economy. read more

Paris - Economic growth in G20 countries climbed by 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2012, slowing only slightly from the 0.6% pace recorded in the previous three-month period despite heavy contractions across Europe, preliminary estimates from the OECD showed on Wednesday. read more

Johannesburg - South African furniture maker and retailer Steinhoff International reported a 5 percent rise in first-half profit on Tuesday as the weaker rand currency helped offset slack consumer demand.  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

South Africa’s Woolworths will hold a 51 per cent stake in a joint venture it has formed with Kenya’s Deacons, giving it control in the operations of the new company. read more

While emerging markets have traditionally been viewed as junior partner to more developed areas of the globe, Neotel CEO, Sunil Joshi, believes that relationship is becoming just as rich when running in the opposite direction. read more

New data published by Accenture has found that more than 70% of people in emerging economies, including Brazil, South Africa and Russia, are leading the adoption of mobile devices to access the Internet.  read more

Carlsberg A/S (CARLA), the Danish maker of Tuborg beer, expects that 2013 will be another challenging year as the economic slowdown leads Europeans to drink less.  read more

San Francisco - China will overtake the United States as the biggest market for smartphones amid a surge in low-cost handsets, a survey said on Thursday.  read more

London - Strong emerging markets helped consumer goods giant Unilever avoid issuing similar profit warnings as two of its main rivals, although it did warn of tougher times ahead due to difficult economies and volatile input costs.  read more

The trend towards luxury is percolating down into Africa’s expanding middle class, says Daphne Kasriel-Alexander, consumer editor at market research company Euromonitor International. read more

Drinks group Diageo is to invest more than £1 billion (R13bn) in Scotch whisky production over the next five years, creating hundreds of jobs and helping it meet growing demand from the emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and Africa. read more

Demand by SA’s traditional trading partners in the north was likely to remain constrained in the near future and the country’s prospects for economic growth would increasingly depend on diversifying and strengthening ties with economies in the south and in Africa, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said last week. read more

Social grants paid by the state are helping retailers in township shopping centres weather tough economic conditions.  read more

Unilever (UNA), the world’s second-largest consumer-goods maker, reported the weakest volume growth in almost three years as higher prices deterred consumers, and said it expects “gloomy” economic conditions to persist this year.  read more

Consumers in South Africa and other emerging economies continued to be the key drivers and purchasers of consumer electronic goods last year, a study by Accenture has found. read more

The South African economy is at a crucial crossroads and wrong decisions about the direction it takes could see the country left wallowing in low, jobless growth while other emerging markets power ahead, Investec Asset Management strategist Michael Power warned this week. read more