> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.businessbagel.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Roundup — Thursday, 22 October 2026 - URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/the-roundup-thursday-22-october-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-22T04:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T03:59:59.000Z - Author: Christian Maidman Today’s edition Meals on Wheels Presented by[![All Weather](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/09/allweather-logo.png)](https://allweather.co.za/?ref=businessbagel.com) Good morning, it’s Thursday the 22nd of October. The company behind Steers and Wimpy is rethinking how it serves South Africans as our eating habits change. Cartrack has signed up a record number of subscribers, in a country that supposedly hates subscriptions. And Elon Musk wants to merge SpaceX and Tesla, in talks he isn’t allowed to sit in on. Let’s get into it. --- MARKETS ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/markets--68-.png) --- WINDOW SHOPPING ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/famous-brands.png) ## South Africans are eating out less, so Steers and Wimpy are meeting them at the drive-thru Convenience has become a big part of how South Africans buy their food, and it isn’t only Uber Eats and Mr D. Drive-thrus, collections and smaller, better-placed restaurants are part of the same shift. Famous Brands, which owns Steers, Wimpy, Debonairs and Mugg & Bean, says grocery delivery apps are now competing with restaurants for delivery orders too, so it’s rethinking where its restaurants sit and how you get your food. In the six months to August its franchise partners opened 48 restaurants and revamped 67, including four new drive-thrus, which makes 81, and 14 new delivery hubs that prepare food specifically for delivery. Small moves for a group with more than 3,000 restaurants, but they show where it’s heading. **The other side of the counter:** - **The supply chain:** Famous Brands makes and distributes many of the ingredients its franchisees use, and that business brought in R3.1 billion in the half, about 72% of group revenue. - **Its profit:** operating profit up 13%, to R230 million, as more restaurants meant more orders. - **The rest:** Botswana, the UK and the smaller Signature Brands slipped, and group operating profit fell 4.7%, to R375 million. Every new restaurant is another customer for the supply chain behind it. So as South Africans change how they buy food, Famous Brands earns on both sides of the counter. [**Read the full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/famous-brands-drive-thrus-delivery-hubs-profit-slips/) --- TRACK RECORD ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/cartrack.png) ## South Africans supposedly hate subscriptions, and Cartrack just signed up a record number of them You’ve probably heard the line that South Africans don’t like subscriptions. Cartrack’s whole business is a tracker in your vehicle and a subscription to go with it, and those subscriptions bring in 97% of its revenue. Its owner, Karooooo, reported this week that Cartrack added a record 236,988 subscribers in the six months to August, taking it to about 2.9 million across every market it works in. Most of them are right here. Cartrack had 2,185,798 South African subscribers at the end of August, up 18% in a year, in an economy the company itself describes as under some stress. It shares the road with names you’ll know, like Tracker, Netstar and Mix Telematics, and growth in its local subscription revenue has still sped up for seven quarters in a row. Group chief executive Zak Calisto called it another quarter of acceleration. So to those who say South Africans don’t like subscriptions: clearly they don’t know Cartrack. Of course, all this growth comes at a cost. Sales and marketing spend rose 24%, and cash left after running costs and investment fell to R100 million, from R358 million, as Karooooo stocked up on trackers ahead of rising memory chip prices. Calisto says the hit should be temporary. [**Read the full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/cartrack-record-subscribers-karooooo-half-year/) --- BAGEL BITE **Which self governing country first gave women the right to vote?** **A.** United States **B.** New Zealand **C.** United Kingdom --- DOING THE ROUNDS ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/datatec.png) **South African technology group Datatec recently announced it was returning R7 billion to shareholders.** Except most of that money never actually left the company. Shareholders were given the choice between receiving cash or additional Datatec shares, and roughly two-thirds of the payout was taken in shares instead. That meant Datatec kept R4.8 billion, issuing 94 million new shares in return. The trade-off is that its total share count has increased by almost 40%, meaning future profits will now be divided across considerably more shares than before. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/datatec-special-dividend-scrip-new-shares/) **South Africans are putting more money into funds that track the market rather than trying to beat it.** Satrix, Sanlam’s index-tracking investment business, attracted R13 billion in new retail investments during the first half of this year. That’s roughly a quarter of all retail money flowing into South African unit trusts during that period. Satrix now manages over R330 billion in assets. And this comes just two years after Sanlam sold its traditional stock-picking businesses to Ninety One, taking a 12.5% stake in return. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/satrix-r13bn-retail-inflows-index-funds/) **Elon Musk wants to bring two of his biggest companies together, saying a merger between Tesla and SpaceX would be a good idea.** Both companies have now appointed independent directors to explore a potential merger, but Musk can’t participate in discussions because of his involvement in both businesses. And getting the deal approved won’t be easy. Tesla needs support from a majority of all shareholders, while Musk owns only about 20%. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/musk-spacex-tesla-merger-committees/) **After years of delays, Boeing has finally received approval to start delivering its largest 737 MAX aircraft.** The MAX 10 has been awaiting certification since the early 2020s, with the process complicated by two fatal crashes involving earlier MAX models that killed 346 people. But the delays haven’t stopped airlines from placing orders. Boeing already has 1,555 MAX 10s on order, accounting for almost a third of its entire MAX order book. Deliveries are expected to begin in the coming months, although rival Airbus has gained ground during the wait. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/boeing-737-max-10-certified-1555-orders/) --- WEATHER ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/weather--64-.png) --- BAGEL GAMES ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/Wordle--68-.png) Have you got what it takes to win today’s Wordle? [**Play here →**](https://puzzel.org/en/wordle/play?p=-P4UCKG33xbpJBKL9Te0&ref=businessbagel.com) --- THE ANSWER As for the Bagel Bite, the answer is: **B. New Zealand** The Electoral Act became law on 19 September 1893, following years of campaigning by suffragists such as Kate Sheppard. Campaigners organised major petitions calling for women’s voting rights. Women then voted in the country’s parliamentary election later that year. This was a landmark achievement in the international movement for women’s suffrage, although New Zealand women did not gain the right to stand for Parliament until 1919. --- That’s your Thursday sorted. Enjoyed it? Forward it on, a friend can subscribe in a click. Written by the Business Bagel crew.