Well-known South African Companies ☑️

The importance of a name

Every name has a story; likewise, the names of companies. A successful company considers its name a valuable asset and will conduct business in such a way that its name will remain intact. Sayings of two famous persons come to mind in this regard:

Ben Hogan (1912 - 1997), an American professional golfer, considered one of the greatest golf players in history, said:

‘Your name is the most important thing you own. Don’t ever do anything to disgrace or cheapen it,’ and

Richard Branson (born 18 July 1950), an English business magnate and co-founder of the Virgin Group in 1970, is known, among numerous other achievements, for his business acumen, evident in quotes such as:

‘Your brand or your name is simply your reputation; you have to fight in life to protect that, as it means everything. Nothing is more important.’ With these two sentences, Branson accentuated the importance of a good business reputation. He reiterated this business principle, saying: ‘Your brand name is only as good as your reputation.’

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Well-known South African companies

The South African companies listed below in this article were chosen randomly, knowing that there are numerous other companies which also have interesting stories to tell about their names. Companies (in alphabetical order):

Absa
Naspers
Pick n Pay
Prosus
Sanlam and Santam
Shoprite (including Checkers)
SPAR
Woolworths

ABSA

Registered name: Absa Group Limited Registration number: 1986/003934/06 Share code on the JSE: ABG The name Absa is an acronym of the words ‘Amalgamated Banks of South Africa.’ The amalgamation (merger) referred to in the name came about on 30 September 1991 when Volkskas Bank merged with United Building Society and Allied Building Society. On 1 April 1992, Absa acquired Bankorp at a fair value of R1.23 billion. Bankorp included Trust Bank, Senbank, and Bankfin. At the time, Absa became the ‘largest banking and financial services entity of its kind in Africa.’ Noteworthy: Volkskas opened its first branch in Pretoria on 1 February 1935. Six months later, on 1 August 1935, the company opened its Market Street branch in Johannesburg. The company changed its name to Absa Group Limited in 1999.  In May 2005, Barclays of the United Kingdom purchased a 56.4% (valued at R29.8 billion) stake in Absa, described as the first major acquisition by an offshore investor of one of the major four South African banks. Interestingly, the then-governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), Tito Mboweni, criticised the transaction, describing Barclays’ stewardship of Absa as ‘discouraging,’ adding that he ‘had yet to see the benefits of Barclays’ management of Absa.’ It was only in 2013 that the group changed its name from Absa Group Limited to Barclays Africa Group Limited. Only to be changed back to Absa Group Limited in July 2018. Subsequently, all remaining Barclays-branded subsidiaries have been renamed as ‘Absa.’

Naspers

Registered name: Naspers Limited Registration number: 1925/001431/06 Share code on the JSE: NPN Naspers was founded on 12 May 1915 in Stellenbosch as a newspaper publisher to publish the newspaper ‘De Burger’ (later called ‘Die Burger’). The company’s original name was ‘De Nationale Pers Beperkt’ (The National Press Limited), and later commonly referred to as Nasionale Pers. Nasionale Pers was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on 12 September 1994. The company formally changed its name to Naspers Limited in 1998.

Pick n Pay

Registered name: Pick n Pay Stores Limited Registration number: 1968/008034/06 Share code on the JSE: PIK Raymond Ackerman (1931 - 2023), founder of the modern Pick n Pay and referred to as ‘the retail king with a heart’ by Linda van Tilburg in BusinessDay, bought four small stores in Cape Town from Jack Goldin for R620 000 in early 1967. The purchase was financed by a bank loan, a two-week severance pay from Greatermans (which fired him), a modest inheritance, and shares bought by friends. The four shops purchased traded under the name Pick ‘n Pay, and Ackerman decided to keep the name for his stores. Before starting his own business in 1967, Ackerman had sixteen years of business experience to build on, evident from the following information:

In 1951, he started as a trainee manager of the Ackermans Group, the clothing company founded by his father, Gus.
Greatermans, a competitor in the retail business, bought Ackermans in the 1950s, and the young Ackerman accepted a position at Greatermans in Johannesburg, serving as manager at a series of small-town stores. During this period, he persuaded the company to develop food retailing supermarkets.
In 1955, Ackerman was tasked with the responsibility of launching the Checkers supermarkets, expanding the chain of supermarkets from 5 stores at the beginning of the 1960’s to more than 85 by 1965, of which he was the managing director (MD).
However, the success of the Checkers stores led to soured relations between Ackerman and the Greatermans board, which considered the company as a group of department stores, and not a supermarket company.
Eventually, in 1966, the turning point came that defined the rest of Ackerman’s life and business career: he was fired by the Greatermans Group. Interestingly, the firing of Ackerman came within two weeks after the death of his father, who had served as a director of Greatermans.

Pick n Pay was listed on the JSE in 1968, and a secondary listing on A2X Markets (A2X) started on 1 November 2022.

Prosus

Registered name: Prosus NV Registration number: 34099856 Share code on the JSE: PRX The name Prosus derives from the Latin word for forward. The letters ‘NV’ in the name of Prosus refer to an acronym for the Dutch phrase ‘Naamloze Vennootschap.’ An NV company in the Netherlands is the equivalent of a public limited liability company. An NV is a business form suited to large corporations, allowing them to trade their shares publicly to generate income. To register as an NV company in the Netherlands, Prosus was required to meet, inter alia, the following requirements:

a minimum amount of EUR 45 000 as share capital, and
at least one shareholder, a supervision board, as well as a managing board

According to RPS Legal (a law firm in Amsterdam), ‘opening a company in the Netherlands is a very wise business decision. Companies opened here will benefit from a liberal tax regime in which dividends and capital gains are exempt from Dutch Corporate Income Tax.’ On 25 March 2019, Naspers communicated its intention to list the company’s internet assets (including it stake in the Chinese multimedia company, Tencent Holdings Limited) on Euronext Exchange Amsterdam in the Netherlands, with a secondary, inward listing on the JSE. This intention was brought to realisation when Prosus was listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the JSE on 11 September 2019. Naspers is the majority stakeholder in its subsidiary Prosus, which is considered the consumer internet arm of Naspers.

Sanlam and Santam

Registered names: Sanlam Limited and Santam Limited Registration numbers: Sanlam - 1959/001562/061959/001562/06/Santam - 1918/001680/06 Share codes on the JSE: Sanlam - SLM/Santam - SNT On March 28, 1918, more than seven months before the end of World War 1, Santam, acronym for the Suid-Afrikaanse Nationale Trust en Assuransie Maatskappij Beperkt (the South African National Trust and Assurance Company Limited), was founded. The company was later known as the Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Trust en Assuransie Maatskappy Beperk. Santam initially consisted of two departments: life insurance and non-life (short-term) insurance. Although only for a short time, because it was decided to convert the life insurance department into a separate company. Hence, the company Sanlam was registered on 8 June 1918 as the Suid-Afrikaanse Nationale Lewens Assuransie Maatskappij Beperkt (South African National Life Assurance Company Limited), commonly known by its acronym, Sanlam. Santam remained Sanlam’s majority shareholder until 1954, when Sanlam became an independent mutual life insurance company and the main shareholder of Santam. In 1998, Sanlam was demutualised and listed on the JSE and the Namibian Stock Exchange. The demutualisation has changed Sanlam from a mutual entity into a public company with share capital, namely Sanlam Life Insurance Limited (registration number: 1998/021121/06). Sanlam Limited was instituted as the parent company of the Sanlam group of businesses.

Shoprite (including Checkers)

Registered names: Shoprite Holdings Limited/Shoprite Checkers (Pty) Limited Registration numbers: Shoprite - 1936/007721/06/Checkers - 1929/001817/07 Share code on the JSE: Shoprite - SHP James Wellwood ‘Whitey’ Basson (Shoprite’s CEO for 38 years) joined Pep Stores Limited as CFO in 1974. He was only 28. Basson, the builder of South Africa’s largest retail empire, had a passion for the food retailing business and for trading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs). In 1979, the Pepkor board of directors gave Basson permission to identify opportunities to start a new food retailer business or to acquire an existing one. Eventually, Whitey Basson found what he was looking for and bought 8 stores in the Western Cape for R1 000 000. The 8 stores traded under the name Shoprite and were founded by two seasoned retailers, Barney Rogut and Basil Geller. Basson decided to keep the Shoprite name for his shops. In 1986, the Shoprite group was listed on the JSE with a market capitalisation of R29 million. In 1991, the Group acquired Checkers, a national chain of supermarkets with 169 stores. Checkers was founded in 1956 by entrepreneurs such as Norman Herber and Norman Feinberg. The first Checkers supermarket opened in Johannesburg. ‘The store’s name ‘Checkers,’ was inspired by the strategic nature of the game, reflecting the founders’ ambition to strategically position the brand within the retail sector,’ according to Darren Fox on LinkedIn.

SPAR

Registered name: The SPAR Group Limited Registration number: 1967/001572/06 Share code on the JSE: SPP Adriaan van Well, an innovative Dutch wholesaler, opened the first SPAR-branded shop in the Netherlands in 1932. The initial name was DESPAR, an acronym of a slogan created by its founder, Van Well, describing its organisation: Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig. Translated into English, it means ‘All Benefit from Joint Co-operation Regularly.’ In the late 1940s, the name was abbreviated to SPAR. SPAR South Africa was established in 1963.

Woolworths

Registered name: Woolworths Holdings Limited Registration number: 1929/001986/06 Share code on the JSE: WHL The first Woolworths store in South Africa was opened by Max Sonnenberg and his son Richard on 30 October 1931. The location was the dining room of the Royal Hotel (now closed) in Plein Street, Cape Town. The Woolworths store in Plein Street sold a variety of goods such as haberdashery, jewellery, and tools. Customers could not walk around in the shop but were served from behind various counters. Max Sonnenberg named his store ‘Woolworths’ because he was inspired by a successful American retail chain, named after its founder, F.W. Woolworth. The name was legally used without permission. (The F.W. Woolworth retail chain in the USA was closed in 1997.) Woolworths Holdings Limited was listed on the JSE on 20 October 1997.