COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Spar to stop exclusive lease agreements

Spar has finally joined its fellow grocery retailers Shoprite and Pick n Pay in agreeing to phase out its controversial exclusive lease agreements.

The Competition Commission said that the Spar Group reached a consent agreement to end the long-term agreements, following a process mediated by retired judge and former judge president of the Competition Appeal Court Dennis Davis.

Historically, exclusive long-term lease agreements signed with property developers and other landlords have allowed large retailers to operate exclusively in shopping centres, preventing competitors and smaller independents - including historically disadvantaged individuals - from competing at the same properties.

"The exclusive lease agreements of Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Spar covered close to 2 000 shopping malls and convenience centres nationally, and excluded any specialist or general grocery supermarkets from competing for consumers in those malls," the commission said.

"As more than 50% of grocery shopping journeys are to malls and convenience centres, collectively these leases prevented competition for most consumer purchases."-Fin24

Blue Label eyes control of Cell C

Fintech group Blue Label Telecoms said healthy growth in gaming and commuter bus channels helped it improve its margins in its year to end-May, but its profits still slumped as it counted the cost of load shedding and its pricey recapitalisation of Cell C.

The largest shareholder of SA's fourth-biggest mobile operator, however, is still eyeing control of it, saying on Wednesday there is still good brand value in Cell C which it is looking to leverage.

Blue Label reported on Wednesday that its headline earnings fell 64% to about R370 million to end-May, but when excluding a R523 million hit from Cell C, its preferred measure of profit would have risen 9%.

Gross profit increased by 19% to about R3.5 billion, corresponding to an increase in margins from about 16.6% to 18.4%, it said, partially attributed to the growth in "PIN-less topups", prepaid electricity, ticketing, and gaming.

Valued at about R3 billion on the JSE, the mobile-focused group specialises in prepaid products such as electricity and airtime and the electronic distribution of virtual merchandise and value-added services, while owning just under half of Cell C.-Fin24

Gold Fields 'distressed' over racism

A review of the workplace culture at Gold Fields found half of the survey participants had experienced bullying, sexual discrimination, or racism in the past five years.

The mining company, which operates in multiple countries, including South Africa, said 47% of respondents reported experiencing bullying; 23% of women and 7% of men reported experiencing sexual harassment, and 15% had experienced racism.



Another 29% of respondents who identify as LGBTQI reported having experienced harassment, with many reluctant to openly acknowledge their status in the workplace, Gold Fields said.

The independent review – which was undertaken by Elizabeth Broderick & Co (EB&Co) – surveyed thousands of Gold Fields employees, a small portion of which were contractors.

Over 1 300 people participated in face-to-face listening sessions, focus groups, or made written submissions to the review team, while over 2 800 people responded to an online survey. The issues were detected across Gold Fields' operations at differing levels in various jurisdictions.-Fin24