Today's edition
Spur of the Moment
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Good morning, it’s Wednesday the 11th of November. How did Spur go from a company in crisis to a record share price this year? We’re taking a look at what its CEO actually did to turn things around.
Also today, Nvidia’s CEO faces an investigation, Virgin Active is buying its way into Germany, and Shoprite is bringing its rewards to the petrol pump. Let's get into it.
MARKETS
SPURRED ON
Spur's CEO earned R26 million last year, but the bigger story is what she did to earn it
For most South Africans, Spur is a restaurant we associate with growing up. But while many of us still think of it as the place for birthday parties and Cheddamelt burgers, the business behind it has been going through a pretty remarkable transformation. Spur Corporation has more than doubled in value over the past five years, and the woman responsible for much of that turnaround has just made headlines for pocketing R26 million last year.
Back in 2021, Spur was in a pretty rough place, after COVID, several leadership changes and a share price that had taken a beating. That’s when Val Nichas, who’d previously worked at Famous Brands, took over as CEO with a five-year strategy to rethink how the business operated.
How the turnaround worked:
- Refreshing the brands: Spur restaurants modernised, a major makeover for Panarottis, RocoMamas grown into a billion-rand brand, and 60% of the Doppio Collection bought in 2023.
- Backing the franchisees: smaller formats that cost less to open, better supply prices saving them more than R127 million since 2021, and Nikos sold back to its founders.
- The results: restaurant sales roughly doubled to R12.3 billion, adjusted profit before tax more than tripled, and the group grew from 624 to 751 restaurants.
Today, she’s running a business whose share price has more than doubled, with a recent R26 million pay cheque to show for it.
AN EXPENSIVE AFFAIR
Nvidia's board is investigating its own CEO, and shareholders are already paying the price
A CEO story of a very different kind. On Sunday, Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, sent an email to his employees admitting he’d been unfaithful to his wife. By Monday, the company’s share price had fallen 4.3%, wiping an extraordinary $192 billion off its market value. Why would an affair have such an enormous impact on one of the world’s biggest companies? According to The New York Times, US authorities believe the woman Huang was having an affair with was actually a Chinese intelligence asset.
Her name is Alice Huang, and despite sharing a surname, the two aren’t related. She was an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that buys Nvidia’s chips. And here’s why that matters. Nvidia makes the advanced chips powering much of the AI boom, and the US has strict restrictions on selling its most powerful chips to China. American intelligence reportedly believes Alice was being used to gather information on Huang and potentially influence his position on those restrictions.
With a board investigation and a shareholder lawsuit under way, investors are now watching whether this could threaten Huang’s position as CEO.
BAGEL BITE
What is the capital city of Brazil?
A. Rio de Janeiro
B. Brasília
C. São Paulo
DOING THE ROUNDS
Virgin Active is expanding into Germany, buying fitness chain Holmes Place for €135 million in cash. The deal gives it 13 large gyms and around 84,000 members, immediately making it Germany’s leading premium gym operator. And rather than spending years building new clubs, Virgin Active is buying an already profitable business. Once the deal is complete, 56% of its earnings will come from outside South Africa, where membership cancellations remain high, partly due to affordability pressures. Its investor, Brait, is expected to share more details at its results this morning. Full story →
Shoprite is expanding its Xtra Savings programme beyond groceries through a partnership with Astron Energy. Members can now earn 25c per litre at participating petrol stations, doubling to 50c if they spend over R3,000 on fuel monthly. But interestingly, those rewards can’t be spent on petrol. They’re only redeemable at Shoprite Group stores or on Sixty60. So while Astron gives motorists another reason to fill up at its stations, Shoprite is rewarding spending outside its stores to encourage customers to come back. Full story →
Botswana is set to become De Beers’ largest shareholder as Anglo American moves ahead with plans to sell the diamond giant. Anglo has been trying to sell its 85% stake since 2024, following a prolonged slump in diamond prices and growing competition from lab-grown diamonds. Now, Botswana plans to double its ownership from 15% to 30%, with Namibia and Angola also involved. Nothing’s signed just yet, though, and with rough diamond prices falling another 32% in the first half of this year, the timing is interesting. Full story →
And finally, South African fintech Yoco has secured a $100 million credit facility, roughly R1.6 billion, from US investment firm Victory Park Capital. Yoco already offers a service that gives small businesses quick access to funding based on their card sales, with repayments deducted from daily takings. Since 2018, it’s helped over 40,000 businesses access R6.5 billion. But until now, Yoco relied on external lenders to provide that money. This new deal allows Yoco to fund these advances itself, giving it greater control and allowing it to reach more businesses. Full story →
WEATHER
BAGEL GAMES
Have you got what it takes to win today’s Wordle? Play here →
THE ANSWER
As for the Bagel Bite, the answer is: B. Brasília
Brasília was built as a new capital in Brazil’s interior to encourage development away from the coast. It became the capital in 1960 and is famous for its modern architecture and distinctive layout, often compared to an airplane or a bird in flight. Rio de Janeiro was the previous capital. São Paulo is Brazil’s largest city, but it has never been the national capital.
That's your Wednesday done. Enjoyed it? Forward it on — a friend can subscribe in a click. Written by the Business Bagel crew.