S&V Weekly Newsletter Vol.7 No.31, August 2 2021

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The aftermath part 3

Greenaways: Getting there, but achingly slowly

Durban, KZN, SA – Synthetic upper material supplier A. Greenaways (Natal), which lost all its stock during the rioting and looting at the end of June, is "up and running, but still not really in a position to supply our customers," sales member Shaun Ribbink said this morning.
      It has received 3 containers so far at its new rented premises in Springfield Park, "but each container holds different items, so I might be able to give a customer his lining, but not his upper material, for example".
      While a number of containers have arrived in Durban harbour, Transnet and its subsidiary, Transnet Port Terminals, were hit by a cyber attack on 22 July, further delaying an already inefficient system.
      "I'm expecting another container tomorrow," he said, "and 2 more by the end of this week or early next week. We expect to be more-or-less back to normal by the middle of September."

Sweet Peas: With a little help from our friends...

Durban, KZN, SA – Women's custom leather footwear manufacturer Sweet Peas has been back in production since last Monday, director Stacy Peinke said this morning.
      "Lots of friends have helped us with the loan of machines, and our suppliers have been amazing, getting us components and giving us time to pay while we sort out the insurance.
      "We make to order, so we couldn't sit around and wait. Our business wouldn't have survived."
      She said production was currently at around 30 pairs/day, about half normal production levels.

Casanova: 'I'm a town boy...that's me'

Durban, KZN, SA – Top end men's boutique Casanova "reopened after a few days", director 'Budgie' Magan said. Unlike many other CBD retailers, whose entire stock was looted, Magan said the first 2 floors of the 4-storey building - the shop itself - were looted, but the other 2 included a warehouse.
      In addition, his other store, Q'Dos, in the Gateway Centre, was unaffected, and he was able to transfer some stock from there. With 80% of his merchandise imported, he expects replacement stock to arrive this month or next.
      "We lost that week of trade, and turnover was down for the rest of the month, so July really took a big tumble," he said.
      Was he reconsidering staying in the CBD?
      "I own the building," he said. "I have to continue. But I grew up in town, my life is in town, that's me."
      He said he had heard that some independent landlords were being "very harsh" with other retailers who had been looted.

AVI: Impact of recent looting and violence

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (27 July, 2021) – Direct damage to the Company’s retail assets was limited to four Spitz stores where all of the stock was stolen and the fixtures and fittings were badly damaged. These stores are expected to resume trading within three to six weeks. None of the Group’s other sites suffered damage, however Snackworks lost some raw material held in a third party storage facility that suffered a total loss. The asset and trading losses are insured, subject to insurance excesses, and the net cost is not expected to be material.
      In order to safeguard our staff, all of AVI’s facilities and retail stores were closed for several days, resulting in lost sales and production. On re-opening, all manufacturing and distribution facilities and all undamaged stores were able to resume normal operations, initially with lower demand than usual due to the extensive damage to many malls, lower consumer footfall and compromised logistics networks.
      Retail trading has now recovered to acceptable levels, however it remains to be seen whether the lost July sales can be recovered. There is adequate stock on hand to support our traditional build-up in lay-bye sales ahead of December.
      Whilst the loss of stores by our retail and wholesale partners was significant, and will take time to recover, we have seen strong replenishment demand in the last week suggesting that retail densities will improve in unaffected stores and the net effect will not be significant for our food and beverage categories in the first semester.

Stock Exchange News Services (SENS)

AVI - trading statement

For the full statement, go here

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (27 July, 2021) – Group revenue for the year increased by 0.5% mainly due to higher volumes at I&J in the second semester and price increases in most categories to offset cost pressures, primarily as a result of the weaker Rand. Apart from I&J, sales volumes for the year were lower than last year, with the fashion brands impacted by a weak first semester, as consumer demand slowly improved post the initial hard lockdown period, while demand for food and beverage brands normalised from the peak demand levels seen during the fourth quarter of the last financial year.
      Operational disruption from COVID-19 was minor with all operations in compliance with the government’s lockdown regulations. Gross profit margins were largely protected from the impact of lower sales volumes and the weaker Rand through effective management of costs and promotional activity, as well as selling price increases where necessary. Effective cost management yielded a reduction in selling and administrative costs for the year, resulting in growth in operating profit.
      Performance in the second semester has been largely in line with the outlook provided in March 2021. Revenue from our fashion brands was 13.5% higher than in the second semester of last year, which was adversely impacted by the hard lockdown restrictions.
      It is expected that AVI will release its full results for the year ended 30 June 2021 on or about 6 September 2021.

End-of-rent blues

From an anonymous Gauteng retailer
And now the last month of a lease conundrum. So u still have your deposit intact and your lease comes to an end and u think oh well I will restore the store to its original state and get my deposit back. SHAKE HANDS with the Landlord after 12 years and off we go on to things better. Fat chance. This is the order of getting screwed over.

Landlord: "If u restore the shop I may not be happy with workmanship and so my crew has to do it. Here is my quote ..."

Tenant: "Wtf that's my entire deposit it's totally inflated."

Landlord: "If you use your own workmen and I am not satisfied I will have to bring my team from another site to restore the shop. And you will wait a month and pay an extra month's rent."

Tenant: "So my deposit will be absorbed by the extra rent while I wait."

Landlord: "You should have renewed."

Tenant: "You wouldn't give me a rent reduction even though customers were working from home and had no need to purchase."
 
Landlord: "My team is coming in tomorrow. Make sure u clear out and you receive the remaining portion of your deposit in 3 months."

Tenant: "And I paid rent regularly for 12 yrs and this is how I get treated:)"

Retirement

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – Heleen Temple, senior manager: standards development at the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS), retired at the end of July "after 37 years and 10 months".

They Said It

"In future please cc me as I can get on top of it better than the ballie!" - Robert Manock, Manock Naturals, Durban, KZN, SA, on a flurry of correspondence to me from his father, Klaus.

"'m still swearing about Saturday. Where did they get that ref? I don't mind losing against the All Blacks, but not the British & Irish Lions." - Frik Kriek, Cape Karoo International, Mossel Bay, W. Cape, SA, on the first rugby test between the Springboks and the touring Lions. I'm sure he's a lot happier this morning.

Directory and Calendar updates

The S&V Directory and the S&V Calendar are dynamic documents, undergoing ongoing constant updating. Readers are therefore advised to refer to them at least once a week.

Got anything you'd like to share?

Do you have any suggestions, comments or experiences about the lockdown that you'd like to share with the industry? We will publish the throughout the lockdown, so please let us know. - tony@svmag.co.za

02/08/1954: Brian Haarburger, MD, Paris Belts, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
02/08/1946: Burt Coburn, ?, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
02/08/1971: JJ du Plessis, Strassbergers, Clanwilliam, W. Cape, SA.
02/08/1991: Samantha du Plessis, Chillisource, Durban, KZN, SA.
03/08/1941: Rolf Haesloop, retired, formerly Haesloop Agencies, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
03/08/1972: Fazel Allie, Arma Trading, Botswana.
03/08/1928: Gerry Elder, retired, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
05/08/1933: Roberto Marchesi, designer, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
05/08/1943: Barry Selby, The Athlete’s Foot, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
05/08/1953: Iqbal Moosa, Jumbo Footwear, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA.
05/08/1956: Rafiq Shah, Evoné, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA.
05/08/1964: Christo Nel, Conloo Joinery, Welkom, Free State, SA.
05/08/1979: Deepesh Ghela, National Adhesive Manufacturers, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA.
06/08/1953: Naren Pattundeen, Palm group, Durban, KZN, SA.
06/08/1951: Marius Ferreira, retired, formerly Bolton Footwear, Great Brak River, W. Cape, SA.
06/08/1942: Mahomed Farouk Moosa Seedat, Prince International, Durban, KZN, SA.
06/08/1959: Mano Chetty, Borage Trading, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
08/08/1950: Eldon Fortmann, retired, formerly Bagshaw, Port Elizabeth, E. Cape, SA.
08/08/1953: Doug Hawkey, John Whittle Components, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
08/08/1986: PG Needham, Needham Leather Goods, Pretoria, Gauteng, SA.

In Memoriam this week

03/08/1999: Otto Guldimann (b. 2/10/1922), Cellini [closed], Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
03/08/1992: Malcolm Kueghn, Hi-Tec Sports, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
03/08/2007: Noel Amery (b. 05/09/1944), Western Tanning and Michelle Footwear, Durban, Clarens Leather [closed], Clarens, Free State, SA.
04/08/2006: Peter Gibbings (b. 31/01/1922), Apeco, Port Elizabeth, E. Cape, SA.
05/08/2002: Darryl Austin (b. 21/02/1947), Austin Shoes, Karmino Shoes [both closed], Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA.
06/08/2012: Bob Johnsen (b. ?), Picannini Shoes [closed], footwear designer, Durban, KZN, SA.
08/08/2010: Gareth Davies [b. 02/04/1945], Edgars group, retired, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
08/08/2019: Ben Cartoon (b. 08/10/1946), Paris Belts, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.

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.

3. Malawian Kwacha (MWK)

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4. Zambian Kwacha (ZMW)

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5. Zimbabwean Dollar (ZWL$)

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ABSA Agri Trends: Hides & skins prices

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (July 30, 2021) - The current average hide price decreased by 10.3% to R7.57/kg from R8.44/kg a week ago. The current price is 8.2% lower than the average price a month ago and is 1392% higher than the average price a year ago. Selected market stakeholders note that demand has weakened and can continue to do so over the short to medium term as a result of recent unrests. NB* Hide prices are determined by the average of the RMAA (Red Meat Abattoir Association) and independent companies. - Marlene Louw, senior agricultural economist, and Nkhensani Mashimbyi, agricultural economist, Absa group.

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:
Fashion Square, Durban, KZN, SA. Family outfitter.
Fashion World, Pretoria, Gauteng, SA. Women's outfitting chain.

Contact us

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

Next newsletter: August 9, 2021.

SAFLIA enquiries: Tel 0800SAFLIA * Email info@saflia.co.za * Website http://www.saflia.co.za

Our website www.svmag.co.za