Building Brands

SHOPTALK


Significant investments made by some of South Africa's largest brand owners are beginning to come to fruition. Pioneer foods have invested heavily in acquisitions, as have Tiger Brands, and they have both posted very strong half year results. Tiger will also invest a further R1.8 billion over the next two years to increase capacity and efficiencies.
For Rainbow Chickens I believe the best is yet to come - they have focused on developing value added products and ready to eat meals while also driving forward their food services sector. This is an intelligent shift away from a volatile commodity based business model, to a more stable, higher margin consumer food producer. The question is how big is the pot of gold that Rainbow holds?

Craig Ballantyne
craig@fastmoving.co.za

Please feel free to make comments or raise new issues by emailing the editor
editor@fastmoving.co.za

NEWSBYTES

Lamberti successor announced
On Wednesday last week Massmart announced that Grant Pattison will succeed Mark Lamberti as head of the group when he retires next year. Lamberti will become non-executive chairman of the group when he steps down from his CEO role, which he has held for the past 19 years.
Read more.

Pick 'n Pay committed to Franklins
Pick 'n Pay's chairman Raymond Ackerman on Thursday announced that they will remain committed to their Franklins stores in Australia. This came after reports earlier last week that Pick 'n Pay were soon to decide the future of the unprofitable store chain that has not made a profit since its acquisition in 2002.

Staff also benefit as Pioneer increases revenue, earnings
Pioneer Foods have increased revenue 13% to R4.7bn for the six months to March. It benefited from improved sales volumes both in existing operations and acquisitions. The group has increased its holding in beverages, eggs, cereal products and baking in the past two years.
Read more.

Tiger to up capacity with bold R1.8 billion
Tiger Brands has reported that it plans to spend an estimated R1.8 billion over the next two to three years on increasing capacity and improving efficiency. This comes after Tiger reported a 9 percent increase in turnover to R8 billion and a 25 percent increase in headline earnings a share to R5.262 in the six months to March.
Read more.

Sea Harvest plant shuts as workers strike
The Tiger Brands fishing plant in Saldanha Bay has reportedly closed after 1 800 employees went on strike last Monday. Union and company officials have confirmed that workers are striking in protest of job cuts, affecting 52 of its staff.
Read more.

Rainbow soars to R400 million
Rainbow Chicken, the country's largest chicken producer, on Wednesday reported a 89.7 % rise in headline earnings to R400 million for the year to March as a favourable economic climate, an improved product mix and investments in ready-to-eat meals paid off.
Read more.

GLOBAL NEWS

Wal-Mart to exit South Korea
In a surprise move, Wal-Mart has announced that Shinsegae has agreed to purchase the group's South Korean retail business for USD882 million. Shinsegae is South Korea's leading retailer with 79 E-mart hypermarkets in the country.
Read more.

Boots to expand Private Label in US
According to reports in the UK press, Boots is planning to expand sales of its private label lines to thousands of stores across the USA. The retailer has been testing lines such as No 7 cosmetics and Botanics beauty products in selected CVS and Target stores in the US. The feedback shows that these products are extremely popular and plans are being made to stock the products on a nationwide basis.
(Planet Retail)

FEATURED BRAND

GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), known for popular brands such as Aquafresh, Borstol, Grand-pa and Med-Lemon, are a global healthcare group engaged in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical and consumer health-related products.
Read more.

BRAND NEW

NEW!Exciting innovations from All Gold Tomato Paste All Gold has launched two exciting new product innovations for Tomato Paste that are set to drive category growth in terms of meeting consumer needs and the requirements of the smaller trader - a Dispenser Value Pack for All Gold No-Waste Tomato Paste sachets and a convenient strip pack. Read more.

NEW!Sipahh and McDonald's encourage healthier eating In a worldwide trend towards healthier eating and good energy, McDonald's and Sipahh have announced their partnership in an attempt to encourage children to replace fizzy drinks with milk and increase healthier diet choices. Read more.

NEW!Cut down the calories with Bio-Sweet Bio-Sweet sugar replacer, developed by Skyros Health Products, is a sure way to cut down on calories and decrease the amount of sugar in a diet. The easy-to-use containers and shakers make it suitable as additives to drinks and cereals as well as cooking and baking. Bio-sweet is available as tablets, sachets and in powder form and does not contain aspartame. Read more.

BRAND ACTIVITY

Rhodes Jam Winner takes R20 000 for school fees! Naseema Gora of Gauteng is the winner of R20 000 towards school fees, compliments of Rhodes. The Rhodes Back to School competition was run on Rhodes Jams in selected Shoprite/Checkers/Pick 'n Pay stores in KZN, Gauteng and Free State in conjunction with Rhodes earlier this year. Congratulations Naseema! Read more.

Spongebob collectables now available in Simba packs Spongebob Squarepants and his friends can now be found in certain Simba packs like Simba 30g, Fritos 50g, Ghost pops 30g, Niknaks 40g and Simba Puffs 30g. These new orbitz are the 'new age' marbles with 60 Orbitz and 6 launches to be collected. Read more.

MGD's Big Yellow Couch creates Buzz at premium events It's big, it's yellow and it's a bold brand statement. The Miller Genuine Draft (MGD) Big Yellow Couch is quite literally, a big yellow couch. The Big Yellow Couch rewrites the rules of lounging and underwrites the "premiumness" of MGD as a tactical, on premise tool. It's highly visible and travels complete with its own red carpet, lighting rig and MGD in a branded fridge. Read more.

Ciro to exhibit improved services at Hostex
Ciro Alliances will be amongst the big names in the beverage industry to exhibit its latest products and services at Hostex 2006, taking place from the 31st May to the 2nd at the CTICC. Ciro Alliances focuses on improved service levels, a basket of products and solutions and has one of the widest varieties of coffee solutions for all occasions.
Read more.

WINE, BEER & SPIRITS

Fleur du Cap takes gold in London Fleur du Cap has shown its mettle at the prestigious 2006 International Wine Challenge in London - the world's largest wine competition - by clinching a gold medal with its Unfiltered Semillon 2004. Read more.

Leading winemakers show their auction wines in CT
Discover the exceptional wines South Africa's leading winemakers will be offering at the 21st Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction by joining them for an informal tasting at the Nedbank CWG Auction Showcase on Thursday 17 August at The Rotunda in Camps Bay.
Read more.

CT to see 4th year of Premier Wine Festival
RMB WineX Cape Town, now in its fourth consecutive year, will once again be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in late August and early September. WineX offers a comprehensive showcase of over 1 200 wines per night from more than 200 of the country's top wineries.
Read more.

FEATURED RETAIL SERVICES

Thinking big - Spending Small? Let UCS Solutions help your company become the retail star of tomorrow... UCS Solutions is hosting a breakfast to introduce the power of SAP Retail - come and explore key retail trends and how retail applications are evolving to respond to these. Read more.

B-LOONY Balloons reflect good times from childhood onwards, with birthdays, parties and fun events. Read more.

Fantus Technologies Fantus Technologies' focus is on working with organizations in their path to excellence. Read more.

RETAIL SUPPORT

Exceptional results for SAP Africa's business partners SAP Africa's business partners in the corporate and small and medium enterprise (SME) sectors achieved exceptional results during 2005, contributing to the global solutions giant's 62% peer group market share internationally, and its 71% peer group market share in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Read more.

ProScan appointed distributor for DRS rugged pen tablets ProScan Systems have extended its hardware range to include the DRS family of rugged pen tablets. DRS Computers is a leading manufacturer of rugged tablet computers and docking systems for mobile users operating in harsh environments in the transportation, distribution, military, public safety, utilities, emergency medical services, field service and manufacturing industries. Read more.

Get more with moving media! You won't find moving media flying overhead, you'll find it zipping by at streetlevel on virtually every moving thing with wheels - that's right - cars, busses, trains, trucks, taxis etc. Synchron offer a few useful tips on branding your vehicle. Read more.

FAST MOVERS

SAB Miller appoint new company secretary
On Friday it was announced that John Davidson will replace Andrew Tonkinson as company secretary. Davidson is currently a senior corporate partner at Lovells, a London-based international law firm. The changeover is expected to take place during August this year.

FEATURED EVENTS

Africa's Big 7 Middle East food companies use expo to target African Markets Africa's Big 7 trade expo, to be held in Johannesburg from 23 to 25 July, is increasingly drawing international companies eager to do business with the continent. This year there has been a surge of interest from the Middle East and so far, there have been confirmed bookings from companies in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Read more.

EVENTS

Hostex Cape 2006
31 May - 2 June 2006 - CTICC
See the "Tiger Brands Out of Home Solutions SA Chefs Village" coming back with a bang.
Read more.

Kemptek co-sponsor PIFSA seminar
1-3 June 2006 - Johannesburg
PIFSA are hosting a seminar highlighting the changes within the industry and the expectations from the market place.
Read more.

Third Annual Wacky Wine Weekend
2-4 June 2006 - Robertson Wine Valley
Fancy a fun-filled weekend in the Cape Winelands? Come and enjoy award-winning wines and warm hospitality in the Robertson Wine Valley.
Read more.

Amasa's June meeting
7 June 2006 - Sandown
Exploring the Future of Media Research in SA.
Read more.

Get "Ready to Retail"
13 June 2006 - Woodmead
Join UCS in exploring key retail trends and how retail applications are evolving to respond to these.
Read more.

Building Quality Information Conference
13 June - Durban, 15 June - Cape Town, 20 June - Johannesburg
GS1 South Africa, along with ECR South Africa and PDC.za will be hosting a conference about Global Data Synchronisation (GDS) as a building block for a collaborative supply chain and how it provides real business benefits.
Read more.

Crisis Management and Communications Planning
23-24 June 2006 - Johannesburg
A two-day training course, which will convey the importance of preparing a Crisis Management strategy in advance of any crisis.
Read more.

Finding the Fortune at the Bottom of the South African Pyramid
12 July 2006 - Parktown
Eighty20 brings you a fascinating overview of the low-income market in South Africa.
Read more.

Annual Franschhoek Bastille Celebrations
15-16 July 2006 - Cape Town
A "great food and great wine" themed festival to be held in Franschhoek.
Read more.

Africa's Big Seven 2006
23-25 July 2006 - Midrand
An integrated exhibition platform that showcases food, retail and FMCG products together with the processes to manufacture them.
Read more.

Cleantex Africa 2006
23-25 July 2006 - Midrand
Africa's hygiene, cleaning, maintenance, pest control and facility management services exhibition.
Read more.

Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction
17 August 2006 - Camps Bay
Discover the exceptional wines South Africa's leading winemakers will be offering at the 21st Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction.
Read more.

The 3rd South African Red Bull Box Cart Race
27 August 2006 - Johannesburg
One cart, 4 team members, an operational steering wheel, functional brakes and a hooter…
Read more.

RMB WineX Cape Town
30 August - 1 September 2006 - CTICC
WineX offers a comprehensive showcase of over 1 200 wines per night from more than 200 of the country's top wineries.
Read more.

THE FAST MOVING FACT

30 million bags were lost by airlines globally in 2005, of which 250,000 were never returned to their owners.
(Time Magazine)

For Fast Moving Fact submissions, please e-mail editor@fastmoving.co.za