Spur, Tyme Bank on the up, while agriculture shrinks

SPUR said on Thursday it had completed a 60% acquisition of Doppio Group restaurants, and has been expanding its brands with the opening of a sub-brand of Piza e Vino, Ciccio, an all-day bespoke Italian-inspired eatery in Melrose Arch. A new Piza e Vino franchised restaurant also opened in Knysna.

TYME Bank, which launched in 2018 and has attracted more than 8-million customers, is now valued at about $965m (about R18bn) after raising $105m in a funding round in recent months, its co-founder and CEO Coen Jonker said this week. Attracting an average of 200,000 new clients every month, it is also making inroads with social grant recipients.

ASPEN Pharmacare will acquire Swiss drug maker Sandoz’s Chinese subsidiary for about €92.6m (about R1.9bn) as it seeks to expand its footprint in China, it announced this week. It will also sell Sandoz the European commercial rights to a portfolio of four anaesthetic drugs in a linked deal worth up to €55.5m.

GDP decreased by 0.2% in the third quarter of 2023, Statistics SA said on Tuesday. While manufacturing, construction, and mining took a 1.3%, 2.8%, and 1.1% decline in their contribution to GDP respectively, agriculture caught the worst of the decreases, contracting by 9.6%. According to Stats SA, the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry gained 31.4% in the third quarter of 2022, contributing 0.8 percentage points to GDP growth for that quarter.

NAMPAK’S revenue fell 1.8% to R16.6bn while its operating loss was R2.6bn, swinging from an operating profit of R640m previously. The packaging group suffered a net loss of R4bn versus the R26m it lost in the same period a year ago. Nampak has 19 sites in SA and 11 in the rest of Africa. TRANSACTION Capital, which owns almost 75% of used vehicle dealer WeBuyCars, SA Taxi and debt collector Nutun, plunged into a hefty R3.7bn loss in the year to end-September. The group is struggling with an enormous debt pile of R33.6bn, while its taxi division is also making losses.