S&V Weekly Newsletter Vol.5 No.38, September 23, 2019

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Retail last week

Comment from 4 retailers on Saturday
"It's been bad - worse than last week. The year has been slow, and Queenstown in general is quiet. People don't have money." - Raja Vandayar, manager, Harry's Shoes & Shoe Repair, Queenstown, E Cape, SA. Independent, 1 store, men's and women's footwear and repairer.

"It's been very quiet, but the majority of our business is school wear, so school holidays are always quiet for us. We're a destination store, serving a number of government and private schools in a middle class area, but people here are also battling financially. I don't expect an improvement this year, but hopefully next year." - Mohamed Moosa, proprietor, Hermers of Rosebank, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA. Independent, 1 store, school, work wear and maids' uniform specialist, and men's formal footwear.

"Things are so bad at the moment that we are looking at shutting this business at the end of the year. After years of doing very well, it's now just not working out. And on Monday there's political protest action with the organisers wanting businesses to close. Some other businesses we're in, like automotive and fast food, are still working, but those are dominated by big, very efficient companies. Consumers don't have the money - 5 days into the month, they have nothing left to spend." - Riza Hoosen, member, Hip-Hop Kulcha, Greytown, KZN, SA. Independent, 1 store, men's and women's footwear and clothing.

"It's picked up. Friday was a very good day, perhaps because it was the start of school holidays, and overall it's a slight improvement over last week. The year has been tight, and you can't risk being overstocked and end up with a poor credit rating. It's a balancing act, because you don't want to not have what consumers are looking for, but it's not like before where you could take a chance on styles." - Saleem Khamissa, proprietor, His Place, Port Shepstone, KZN, SA. Independent, 3 stores, men's outfitter.

...and on a positive note
"All the factories are much busier. There's a definite turnaround." - A. Greenaways Natal member Garth Ribbink. Just a month ago he was reporting that the industry was on its knees. Clearly stocking up for summer trade is behind the change, but one must hope it translates into sales at retail.

Edcon sells two brands as part of turnaround strategy, and plans to dispose of more

Competition Tribunal approves Edcon/Footgear deal

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – The Competition Tribunal has approved a large merger which sees Edcon selling two of its brands, “Edgars Active” and “High Key”, to a company called Footgear (Pty) Ltd – which is ultimately owned by Old Mutual.
       Edcon CEO, Grant Pattison, attended the Tribunal hearing and confirmed that the sale of the two brands’ assets and business forms part of the Edcon Group’s turnaround strategy. He told the Tribunal that the Edcon Group would be “coming twice more”, indicating that Edcon was disposing of non-core assets in line with its turnaround plan.
       The Commission – which assesses large mergers before referring them to the Tribunal for a decision – confirmed that there would not be any retrenchments as a result of the transaction. It found that the merger does not raise any competition or public interest concerns. The Tribunal approved the merger without conditions.

Stock Exchange News Service (SENS) releases

Mr Price - allegations of non-compliance

Durban, KZN, SA (September 19, 2019) – Further to the SENS announcement released on 12 September 2019, which addressed speculation in the market, the Group's internal investigation has now proceeded to a point where the level of materiality has been determined.
       The potential financial exposure is in the range of R10 million - R20 million. Should this materialise, the Group will seek to enforce its contractual rights against the supplier.
       The Group believes that this is an isolated issue and continues to demand the highest standards of compliance from its associates and partners.

They Said It

"We've had several calls from the trade, including some of our own agents, that Bolton Footwear is in the process of selling Barker and Crockett & Jones to Dick Whittington. Clearly people have not got enough to busy themselves with. It's a figment of someone’s imagination. Those brands are core to our business and aren't going anywhere. Maybe somebody saw Arveen and I having a cup of coffee and a doughnut together, put 2 and 2 together and came up with 5." - Bolton Footwear MD Alan Fleetwood. Dick Whittington Footwear MD Arveen Boodhoo left work early on Friday, so he wasn't around to ask about his supposed new brands.

S&V Directory - Order now

The directory is ready. On sale for R450. The online version is also available at R450 for 12 months' access.

2019 Trade Fairs Another essential service from S&V

Please note that we have put a list of the 2019 trade fairs and conferences on our website, linked to their websites: http://www.svmag.co.za/events

Exchange rates

Source: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator/

ABSA Agri Trends 17/09: Hides & skins prices

Hides: R1.78/kg. this is 16.2% higher than last week’s price of R1.53/kg. The current price is 64.9% lower than prices were a year ago. This week prices were supported by the lower cattle slaughter numbers. Locally we did not see many fresh hides entering the market. Prices remain weak and a recovery is not be expected in the short to medium term. - Wessel Lemmer, senior agricultural economist, Absa Group. NB* Hide prices are determined by the average of the RMAA (Red Meat Abattoir Association) and independent companies.

23/09/1945: Devan Nayager, Shoe Africa, Durban.
23/09/1951: Grant Fraser, Claw Boot, Johannesburg.
24/09/1944: Ron MacNiven, retired, formerly Decofurn, Durban.
24/09/1964: Hester Meijer, Berklee Fashion Clothing, East London.
24/09/1977: Ridwaan Moola, Foot Focus, Durban.
25/09/1965: Mahomed Dawood Kaka, Skoen Boetiek, Lichtenburg.
25/09/1973: Michael Cloete, Resource Fashion Trading, Cape Town.
25/09/1974: Yousuf M Jadwat, Fast Forward Clothing Co, Bellville.
25/09/1979: Zaid Paruk, City Express Stores, Durban.
26/09/1934: Siva Pillay, Allateens Bopsi Footwear, Durban.
26/09/1940: Cedric Novis, emigrated, formerly Bolton Footwear.
26/09/1944: Dick Smyth, designer, Durban.
26/09/1948: Melt van Niekerk, Checkmate, Secunda.
26/09/1970: Brett Pengelly, Trail Mix Trading, Durban.
27/09/1943: Rashid Mayet, agent, Johannesburg.
27/09/1933: Mussa Hajat, retired, formerly Footwear Centre, Blantyre, Malawi.
27/09/1973: Tracy Lopez, Lopez Leathers, Cape Town.
27/09/1988: Sylvester Chetty, Spunlok, Pinetown.
28/09/1938: Mervin Bloom, retired, formerly Meroda Footwear [closed], Cape Town.
28/09/1946: Richard Bryant, Fusion Leather, Cape Town.
28/09/1963: Loll Bishoon, agent, Johannesburg.
28/09/1967: Rajesh Morar, Quik Serv Shoes, Pietermaritzburg.
29/09/1942: Moon Govender, Arc Footwear, Durban.
29/09/1957: Monica Hoffman, Chafkins, Benoni.
29/09/1959: Ismail Haffejee, Capri Bag, Durban.
29/09/1962: Venessa Schmid, The Whatnot, Cape Town.
29/09/1963: Gavin Wilkins, formerly Eddels Shoes, Pietermaritzburg.
29/09/1967: Hitesh Motiram, Nakuls, White River.
29/09/1968: Milton Zwart, Ribtech, Pietermaritzburg.
29/09/1964: Denzil Spolander, African Gameskin Group, Cape Town.
29/09/1976: Brad Isaacson, agent, Durban.

 

In Memoriam this week

23/09/2005: Tony Mossop (b. 30/06/1942), Mossop-Western Leathers, Wellington.
24/09/2003: Werner Fehr, agent, Cape Town.
26/09/1994: Cinnie Bonthuys, Crown Footwear, Pinetown.
27/09/2018: Mano Chetty (b. 29/11/1961), formerly PMC Group, Pinetown.
29/09/2012: Richard McCulley (b. 14/09/1964), agent, Cape Town.
29/09/2004: Noel Eric Teifel (b. 06/03/1928), NE Teifel & Co, Midrand.

Have you let us know about your birthday, or the birthdays of your colleagues? Our readers love this section, so please become part of it. This also applies to the In Memoriam section. Help us remember former colleagues.

 

Have a look at these links

We invite businesses to send us links to websites, Facebook pages and the like which they feel would be of interest to others. The links below are from our database:
Benchmarking & Manufacturing Analysts, Durban, KZN, SA. Consultants https://bmanalysts.com/
Best Shoes, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA. Multi-brand factory shop and manufacturer. http://www.bestshoes.co.za/

 

Contact us

News & Classifieds: Tony Dickson, +27 (0)31 209 7505, tony@svmag.co.za

Next newsletter: September 30, 2019.

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