B2B Central

COVID-19

08 Sep 2020

Investing offshore opens a world of possibilities

By Staff Writer

By: Standard Bank Wealth International South Africa accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the world’s gross domestic products, or GDP. Investors who therefore expand their horizons beyond local borders have access to the other 99.5 percent, which makes a strong case for diversification and investing in international markets.  There are other benefits to offshore...
08 Sep 2020

Adcock Ingram achieves satisfying financial results despite challenging conditions

By Staff Writer

The Adcock Ingram Group reports a 4% increase in turnover for the year ended 30 June 2020. The Group achieved these results despite the challenging conditions such as the general economic downturn, significant cost-push due to Rand weakness, global supply chain disruptions, and declines in demand for certain categories of medicine and products. Performance highlights...
08 Sep 2020

Libstar’s food categories at the heart of its growth strategy in COVID-19 pandemic

By Staff Writer

Despite the adverse effects of COVID-19, Libstar delivered robust H1 results. Libstar maintained a strong balance sheet and sound liquidity. Excluding extraordinary COVID-19 expenses of R44 million, normalised EBITDA increased by 3.7%. Libstar’s culture of innovation and differentiation continued. It introduced 88 new products and 36 renovated products Commenting on the results, Libstar CEO Andries...
03 Sep 2020

The burning platform for long-term insurance

By Staff Writer

Steve Piper, Chief Distribution Officer at FMI (a Division of Bidvest Life Ltd) If the COVID-19 pandemic has done anything, it’s exposed the shortcomings of the long-term insurance industry. Precious few insurers were prepared for a crisis that would result in a local and global lockdown, leaving many policyholders without jobs, and likely even more...
02 Sep 2020

Local biotech company launches new COVID-19 testing technology

By Staff Writer

Cape Town-based Biotech Africa is launching a new testing platform that will allow for the ultra-high throughput of COVID-19 tests, at a fraction of the current testing costs. This is in response to the shortage of test kits in South Africa, which has resulted in only around three and a half million tests having been...
02 Sep 2020

Risk intelligence the key to a sustainable future

By Staff Writer

Only by building risk intelligent organisations will leaders be able to overcome six distinct global threats identified by the Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA). This is according to Christopher Palm, IRMSA’s Chief Risk Advisor. “Leaders at the highest levels of the private and public sectors must embrace an enterprise-wide culture of integrated risk...
02 Sep 2020

E-commerce spike leads to major investment in warehouse space

By Staff Writer

A massive spike in online sales during the Covid-19 crisis is expected to fuel unparalleled growth in e-commerce operations in South Africa. The general rule of thumb is that e-commerce requires three times the logistics space of traditional storefronts. “Therefore it is reasonable to assume that we will see a much greater investment in warehouse...
02 Sep 2020

Covid-19 places supply chain management under spotlight warns Ikhaya

By Staff Writer

As the pharmaceutical industry eagerly anticipates the creation and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine and the pandemic itself shines a spotlight on health and safety issues, companies will need to be increasingly vigilant when it comes to maintaining the cold chain during the storage and transportation of sensitive products, says Eckart Zollner, sales and marketing...
02 Sep 2020

BBF ensures workers put safety first as all economic sectors open up 

By Staff Writer

Face masks are one of the best weapons in the daily fight against COVID-19, which is why BBF Safety Group is donating 400 000 Nikki reusable filtered masks to the value of R4.4 million to those who need them most.  As the economy began to open up after the hard lockdown experienced in April and May,...
01 Sep 2020

Business owners give advice to SMEs on how to survive the pandemic

By Staff Writer

A new survey by the South African SME Finance Association (SASFA) shows that despite the help offered by government and the private sector, only a fraction of businesses had any support. Only 47% of business owners applied for relief from government or financial institutions, because many did not believe they would qualify. Even amongst the...
01 Sep 2020

UK toiletries and cosmetics industry declines

By Staff Writer

Cosmetics and toiletries are losing out in the COVID-19-driven decision between what is essential and what is dispensable, particularly as almost half (**43%) of UK consumers plan to socialise outside of the home less frequently in future. This will contribute to the forecasted -10% (£1.7bn*) value decline in the UK cosmetics and toiletries industry in...
01 Sep 2020

Six reasons why automation is poised to accelerate

By Lerato Mareletse

By: Daniel McFetrich, Head of Global and International Equity, Schroders Automation has long been a feature of the manufacturing sector, as companies seek to improve productivity, but we think the level of automation is set for a sharp increase as innovation sparks a new smart manufacturing revolution. In the short term, the Covid-19 pandemic has...