Business brief | Pick n Pay launches new store-to-store money service, and yet more woes for Boeing

In a slower day for corporate news, retailer Pick n Pay has launched its new store-to-store money transfer service, maintaining it is the cheapest option among retailers. In international news, yet another Boeing has been involved in a safety incident after an engine cowling fell off during takeoff in the US.

Pick n Pay on Monday announced the launch of its store-to-store Domestic Money Transfer service, saying that at a flat R8 per transaction, it is the cheapest price for customers within retail stores. Facilitated by Absa, the service will be interoperable across all Pick n Pay supermarkets, clothing, and Boxer stores in SA, spanning a network of over 1 400 outlets. Customers only need to sign up once with their identity document when accessing the service in any store, it said. After each transaction, senders receive a PIN via SMS to share with the receiver, who can immediately access the funds at any affiliated store. The minimum transfer amount is R50, daily limits capped at R3 000, and monthly limits at R25 000. Informal cash use in SA remains high, the group said, with the service helping to bridge gaps for individuals who don’t have access to traditional banking or digital infrastructure.

French media giant Canal+ announced on Monday it has now made a firm mandatory offer for a takeover of MultiChoice, offering R125 per share – almost 67% more than the MultiChoice share price just before its first offer in February. MultiChoice, Africa’s biggest pay TV operator, meanwhile, has roped in Standard Bank as an independent expert to give an opinion on the offer, also agreeing to cooperate in ensuring its implementation. An earlier non-binding offer of R105 per share in February was rebuffed by the board of Africa’s biggest pay-TV operator as too low, and Canal+ subsequently upped its proposal in March to its current amount. Canal+, whose parent is Vivendi, operates in 50 countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, directly serving 8 million customers in Africa. It had about 25 million total subscribers as of its 2023 year, while MultiChoice had 23.5 million. Both have serious ambitions for Africa and have acknowledged that scale is necessary in order to take on US giants such as Disney+ and Netflix. MultiChoice gained just under 5% and has risen about 57% since the first proposal was made public.