S&V Weekly Newsletter Vol.9 No.23, June 5 2023

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Tanning

Hannitan opening second plant, not moving to W. Cape

Springs, Gauteng, SA - Hannitan has started work on a crusting plant in Atlantis, outside Cape Town, to open probably in August, MD Rudolf Hanni said on Friday.
      “It’s not replacing Hannitan,” he said. “It’s to alleviate bottlenecks in Springs, and the reason we’ve chosen Atlantis is that it has a more reliable electricity supply.”
      He said the plant would have the capacity to process 1 000 hides/day.
      He said the plant would mainly supply Hannitan, but would also serve the export market.

Local manufacturing

The problem starts with consumer attitudes

Mohamed Vanker, Tego Footwear
Durban, KZN, SA - In the last issue you had an article from proudly South African focusing on job creation. Unfortunately, it will not work if government doesn’t get involved and start cleaning up the illegal imports and fakes that are sold for billions of rand that are affecting manufacturers and retailers who work by the book.
      Over the last few years, most of the independent retailers who used to support local manufacturers closed because they couldn’t compete with the foreign nationals who operate businesses. These guys don’t pay taxes, none of their workers are registered etc., so look at the advantages they have against us.
      Why don’t SARS and labour officials do their jobs instead of only worrying those that are registered and battling to survive?
      The other big irony: Locals are crying for jobs, but they support these guys (the people selling fakes). Last week I stood at the entrance of my factory watching my workers coming in. Of the 140 people, only about 5 were wearing local footwear. More education needs to be given to the general public on the impact of not buying ‘made in China’. I pray we get the days back when the shoe industry employed 48000 workers compared to the 8000 that we currently employ.

Stock Exchange News Service (SENS)

Pepkor Holdings Ltd: Interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2023

Profit down, market share up

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA (30 May 2023) - Pepkor said it “continues to deliver value to customers, enabled by strong cost control”. It said revenue grew 4.3% to R43.8 billion, but that there was a 9.8% decrease in operating profit to R5.1 billion (before capital items) and an 11.7% decrease in HEPS to 80.8 cents (8.6% decrease in normalised HEPS1).
      However, it said “cost growth was well managed below inflation”, and that it made “market share gains in key product categories”.
“During the second quarter, market share gains were achieved in key product categories. PEP increased market share in the babies’, ladies’, and home product categories, while Ackermans gained market share in school wear and lingerie (RLC data). JD Group gained market share in computing, appliances and audio (GfK data). It is pleasing that the group’s total share of the South African clothing market continues to exceed pre-COVID-19 levels (RLC data).”
      It said Pepkor sold 7 out of 10 prepaid handsets in South Africa (GfK data).
      “During the period, the group opened 168 new stores (99 on a net basis), expanding the retail store base to 5 929 stores.”

Richemont: ‘Strong performance for the year ended 31 March 2023’

Geneva, Switzerland - Richemont said group sales and operating profit were “at an all-time high of €19 953 million and €5 031 million, respectively”, with sales “up by 19% at actual exchange rates and by 14% at constant exchange rates, driven by retail, up 22% at actual exchange rates (+17% at constant exchange rates), representing 68% of Group sales”.
      It said there was sales growth across all regions, distribution channels and business areas, at actual and constant exchange rates, and that growth resumed in Asia Pacific with sales up 6% at actual rates (+1% at constant exchange rates); double-digit increases in all other regions at actual and constant exchange rates, led by Japan and Europe. There was also double-digit sales increases across all distribution channels and business areas at actual exchange rates, and almost all business areas at constant exchange rates.
      “Operating profit was up 34% to €5 billion, including non-recurring items of €66 million net, leading to an increased operating margin of 25.2%.”

They Said It

"Leather can easily compete in terms of value for money with alternative materials. Irish Rail opts for leather seats because non-leather seats need to be maintained and/or the material changed every year or so, whereas leather lasts for the same seats 9 years. Even if leather is 3 times as expensive, the end result is that leather is 60% cheaper than the alternative materials. The Scottish Leather Group is the supplier and uses this data for their promotion. With bags and shoes it’s the same story. Leather lasts." - Columnist Sam Setter, arguing that the leather industry promotes itself wrongly. "The big mistake that we make in our promotion of leather is to link leather exclusively with ‘luxury’. Leather can be luxury that indeed generates a lot of money for some top of the shelf brands, but leather is in reality a product for simple everyday use. The $50 000 handbag is great but how many are sold per year? It’s the $50 pair of shoes or the $75 handbag that count as they can be sold by the millions. The big brands think for themselves, and they promote their luxury (leather) products not because they are made of leather but because they are imposed as fashion, whereas we need to focus much more on the day-to-day consumers of the $50 shoes and make them understand, by addressing them directly, that leather is a healthy, sustainable and reliable product, whereas most alternative materials are not. If we remain unable to communicate with this majority of the consumers, the men and women who buy the $50 shoes, then how do we think to transform the millions and millions available hides and skins? Let’s put the money where our mouth is and launch real publicity campaigns like all big industries!"

New subscribers last week

Marchant Pretorius, Chief Creative Officer, Leggenda Sports, Westonaria, Gauteng, South Africa

Got anything you'd like to share?

Do you have any suggestions, comments or experiences about the industry that you'd like to share with the industry? - tony@svmag.co.za

Birthdays this week

05/06/1929: Hannes Louw, retired, formerly KKI, Mossel Bay, W. Cape, SA.
05/06/1960: Tom Bassage, CC Leather, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA.
06/06/1943: Doug Patterson-Roberts, Marchez Shoe Salon, Shelley Beach, KZN, SA.
06/06/1951: Yusuf Mayet, Come Duze Store, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
06/06/1963: José Leite, SA Polymers & Compounds, Gillitts, KZN, SA.
07/06/1984: Clenton Govender, Prisaan Footwear, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
08/06/1955: Brad Lemkus, retired, formerly Hi-Tec, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
08/06/1958: Sandra Young, left the industry, formerly Archilles Engineering [closed]. Benoni.
09/06/1957: Willem Fourie, Images, Bloemfontein, Free State, SA.
09/06/1989: Noushard Mahomed Hoosen, Paris Belts, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
10/06/1951: Marthus Louw, retired, formerly Bolton Footwear, Great Brak River, W. Cape, SA.
10/06/1955: Piet Kleyn, CEO, SA Ostrich Business Chamber, Oudtshoorn, W. Cape, SA.
10/06/1961: Richard Turner, emigrated, formerly Bolton Footwear, Great Brak River, W. Cape, SA.
10/06/1983: Jarod Grossberg, G-Step, Durban, KZN, SA.
11/06/1948: Basie Vermaak, retired, formerly Watson Shoes, Great Brak River, W. Cape, SA.
11/06/1961: Andy Raouna, left the industry, formerly Multiserv, Johannesburg.

In memoriam this week

06/06/2001: Willem Elbers (b. 09/04/1941), East Cape Tanning [closed]/BASF, Uitenhage, E. Cape, SA.
06/06/2002: Willie Compion (b. 21/10/1929), G&D Shoes [closed], Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
06/06/2013: Willem Lubbe (b.25/01/1925), AP Lubbe & Son [closed], Stellenbosch, W. Cape, SA.
09/06/2002: Howard ‘Snowy’ Vaubell, Crown Footwear, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
09/06/2003: Dr Stanley Shuttleworth (b. 1911), LIRI [closed] founder, Grahamstown, E. Cape, 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.

Directory entries updated last week

Conloo Joinery (Pty) Ltd, Welkom, Free State, SA.
Freestyle Genuine Handcrafted Leather [Grant’s True Leather cc], Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
TST Agencies cc, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.

3. Malawian Kwacha (MWK)

Source: https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/

4. Zambian Kwacha (ZMW)

Source: https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/

5. Zimbabwean Dollar (ZWL$)

Source: https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/

Note: For previous rates, see HERE

ABSA Agri Trends: Hides & skins prices

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (01 June 2023) - The current average hide price decreased by 0.5% to R3.62/kg from R3.64/kg a week ago. The current price is 7.5% higher than the average price a month ago and 12.5% lower than the average price a year ago. The range of prices reported was as follows: Minimum price: R3.50 Maximum price: R4.50. Please note: Our methodology weighs the prices we collect according to the number of hides they sell in a month. This is done to make it more representative of the prevailing market price. 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, and Zama Sangweni, agricultural economist, Absa group.

Note: For previous prices, see HERE

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:
Jumbo Clothing, East London, E. Cape, SA. Family outfitter.
Jumbo Footwear cc, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA. Footwear wholesaler

Contact us

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

Next newsletter: June 12, 2023.

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

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