Hits&Misses

Edcon deal may save jobs, but Massmart targets Game staff

EDCON Holdings agreed to sell part of clothing chain Edgars to a private equity-backed rival, potentially safeguarding the 91-year-old brand and saving thousands of jobs. Administrators struck a deal with Retailability, a holding company for brands

Legit, Beaver Canoe and Style, which owns 460 stores across Southern Africa.

CAFE Chameleon, a Cape Town restaurant, was the first to win a court case against an insurer for payment of damages arising from business interruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The urgent application was brought in the high court by the restaurant against insurance company Guardrisk.

UNEMPLOYMENT Insurance Fund commissioner Teboho Maruping was adamant there is no backlog in the payment of the Covid-19 relief benefit, and said the fund had paid all those who had met the required criteria.

CONSUMER confidence slumped to its worst levels in 35 years during the second quarter as households grappled with the economic fallout of lockdown restrictions. The FNB/BER consumer confidence index plummeted to -33, a low not seen since 1985 when it hit -36 after the then president PW Botha delivered his Rubicon speech amid increasing resistance to the apartheid regime, the bank said.

WALMART-owned retailer Massmart said it may cut up to 1,800 jobs at its Game stores in SA as part of its turnaround plan to improve the lossmaking business. The proposed retrenchments come as the country grapples with one of the world’s highest unemployment rates.

THE Competition Tribunal found retailer Dis-Chem guilty of charging excessive prices for surgical face masks to take advantage of heightened demand and ordered it to pay a R1.2m fine.