Furniture manufacturer and retailer Steinhoff's bold move into the US with a $2.4bn bid for Mattress Firm Holdings announced on Monday took analysts by surprise, because of the sheer size of the transaction and the fact that very little had been said in the lead-up to the announcement. 10 Aug 2016
Call and staff costs are some of the biggest expenses in the contact centre. Further factors that contribute to diminished profit potential include agents that (despite making the most sales) may have higher default or cancellation rates or ones that sell products with lower margin and the ones who use the most leads. 10 Aug 2016
South Africa's newly released Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) figure for Q2 2016 improved only slightly to 78 from the previous Q1 figure when it dropped seven points to 75 - a similar level to that experienced during one of the country's worst recessionary climates in 2008/09. While this was to be expected, new retail sales data from consumer insights specialist Nielsen presented a far more positive picture of consumer spending. 10 Aug 2016
BMi Research has released its annual quantification report on the flavoured milk market in South Africa for 2016. Flavoured milk volumes increased during 2015, somewhat making up for the lower than average performance during 2014, and the saw a degree of consolidation in 2015, with a number of smaller, localised players exiting the category. 10 Aug 2016
Mondi continued its strong financial performance across all of its key metrics in the six months to June, with underlying operating profit of €529m rising 8% on the same period in 2015. 8 Aug 2016
Directors of poultry group Sovereign Food Investments appeared to chicken out of answering questions about the identity of a partner in a lucrative factory shop joint venture. 8 Aug 2016
WASHINGTON - Online giant Amazon unveiled its first branded airplane on Friday, part of what is expected to be a fleet of 'Prime Air' cargo planes. 5 Aug 2016
Pylons carry electricity power lines past cooling towers at the Novovoronezh NPP-2 nuclear power station, operated by OAO Rosenergoatom, a unit of Rosatom, in Novovoronezh, Russia.
Picture: Bloomberg
The manufacturing sector is showing signs of resilience in the face of a tough operating environment and has increased the application of production capacity. 5 Aug 2016
Several of the conditions imposed on the merger between SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev are likely to strengthen the competitive position of Distell, according to the Competition Tribunal's analysis of the reasons for granting conditional approval for the megabrew deal. 5 Aug 2016
At the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London, Distell won Best Worldwide Brandy, Best Cognac and Best Vodka. 5 Aug 2016
Matt Zajechowski of Digital Third Coast and Shorr Packaging have researched the state of the e-commerce subscription services industry in the US. The research indicates that subscription box website visits have skyrocketed from just over 700,000 in 2013 to 21.4m today, a 3000% increase. 5 Aug 2016
BERLIN - A year of high-profile sports sponsorship has so far paid off for Adidas, with sales at its core brand up 25 percent thanks to events including the Euro 2016 football tournament. 5 Aug 2016
Poultry group Country Bird Holdings (CBH) has dug its claws deeper into rival Sovereign Food Investments following a sizeable block trade on the JSE on Friday. 4 Aug 2016
Shareholders in unlisted liquor group KWV Holdings will not taste a rich special dividend anytime soon. 4 Aug 2016
Jacobs Krönung has launched its 40g, 250g and special 250g+50g coffee packs. These new economy packs, which add to the existing 75g and 150g range, offer consumers the opportunity to savour the same premium taste and aroma, at even more affordable prices. 4 Aug 2016
In order to stand out from the rest, brands have introduced programmes that reward customer loyalty. Statistics have shown that increasing customer loyalty by just 5% could lead to an increase in the average profit per customer 25-100%. 4 Aug 2016
Picture: AFP
NEW YORK - Former Christian Dior designer Raf Simons has been appointed Calvin Klein's new chief creative officer and will debut his first collections for the fall 2017 season, the US label announced on Tuesday. 4 Aug 2016
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