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The government’s four bans on alcohol sales since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 have not completely dented the investor appetite for acquisition opportunities in South Africa’s beaten alcoholic beverages industry.
This is judging from the move by the Dutch brewing company Heineken, which has expressed an interest in acquiring SA-based Distell, the maker of brands including Klipdrift brandy, Savanna cider, JC le Roux sparkling wines and Amarula liqueur.
Distell told investors on Tuesday that its share price could be affected by the acquisition talks with Heineken. And indeed, its share price jumped by as much as 10.4% to R158 during Tuesday’s intraday trade – levels last seen in November 2017.
Pick n Pay entered the retail pharmacy space earlier than most, but this week admitted defeat.
Fast forward two decades later, and after the breakneck expansion of Clicks, Dis-Chem and others, the sector now seems far from under-serviced. Clicks said this week that 50% of the population now live within 6km of one of its more than 630 pharmacies. There’s more to this story Subscribe to News24 and get access to our
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Acceptance of new technology has effectively made Capitec the biggest digital bank in SA. Image: Supplied
Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie had good news for shareholders, as well as SA in general, when he took to the floor to announce the bank’s results for the financial year to February on Tuesday.
While headline earnings decreased by 27% to R4.6 billion (2020: R6.3 billion) and return on equity fell from 28% to 17%, his message was that banking activity is picking up and his interaction with branch managers countrywide indicates that there is quite a strong recovery underway.
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Optimism over strong recoveries in developed market economies, including the US and most of Europe, as vaccine programmes are rolled out, has helped fuel strong equity market performances this year. So, too, has the massive stimulus pumped into economies by central banks, including the Federal Reserve.
Whereas the JSE’s gains seem to belie local economic prospects and the slow pace of vaccinations, it is benefiting, to the full, from the global factors.
The exchange’s broad-market All Share Index is up about 12% so far this year. The blue-chip Top 40 Index, which includes the exchange’s most valuable shares, shows a similar gain.