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Southern Sun wins award for Lagos hotel

 

Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel recently won three awards at the 2010 West African Tourism & Hospitality Awards held in Accra, Ghana. The awards were in the following categories: Best 4-Star Hotel/Resort (Platinum); Best New Hotel 2010 (Gold); and CEO of the year 2010 (Gold) for the General Manager, Mr Mark Loxley. A company spokesman said: “Given the fact that Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel has only been operating for less than a year-and-a-half in this competitive market, its success story leaves nothing to doubt about its facilities and world class service standards which it offers its clients.”

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Tiger Brands buys into Nigeria food business

30 November 2010

South Africa's Tiger Brands, a maker of food and consumer goods, agreed to buy 49 percent of the food business of Nigeria's UAC as it ramps up expansion in fast-growing African markets to offset slack demand at home.

Tiger also said on Wednesday it had acquired Deli Foods Nigeria, an unlisted biscuit maker, and had formed a joint venture with Ethiopia's East African Group to manufacture and sell personal goods and food. It did not say how much it paid for any of the transactions.

Tiger, which also reported a slight decline in full-year profit, becomes the latest South African firm to make a push into poor but rapidly growing sub-Saharan frontier markets.

"Africa is a long way from being developed but fast-moving consumer goods such as food will continue to be a staple consumption and Tiger Brands wants to be part of the action," said Zaheer Joosub, an analyst at Citigroup in Johannesburg.

Home to about 1 billion people, Africa's population is expected to double by 2050. Many frontier economies boast growth rates of 7 percent or more, far outstripping the projected 2 to 3 percent in South Africa, the continent's largest economy.

In what may be the biggest bet on the long-term outlook for the African consumer, U.S. retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc is in talks to buy a controlling stake in South Africa's Massmart, which also has a presence in some frontier African markets. Tiger Brands said Deli Foods and the Ethiopia business would initially add 500 million rand in annual sales.

The UAC deal will give Tiger a big presence in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest economy, while for UAC, which is struggling to fend off increased competition, the deal with Tiger is "very positive", said Akinbamidele Akintola, an analyst at Renaissance capital, in a note to clients. "This strategic partnership might help turn around the operations of the business to regain market (leadership)," he said.

Tiger Brands, which makes bread, breakfast cereal and energy drinks, reported headline earnings per share of 1.39 rand for the year to end-September, compared with 1.41 rand last year.

Headline EPS is the main profit gauge in South Africa and excludes certain one-time and non-trading items.

Sales from continuing operations fell 2 percent to 19.3 billion rand, hurt by lower food prices and the weaker business environment. Tiger said that while there was a steady increase in sales in recent months, it remained cautious about the outlook for the first half of the new financial year.

Shares of the company were up 0.8 percent at 185.33 rand by 1018 GMT, compared with a flat Johannesburg All-Share index. Tiger Brands shares have gained 8 percent so far this year, compared with a nearly 12 percent rise in the benchmark. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters)

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