Executive pay climbs as performance bonuses soar & What kind of owner does De Beers need to survive?

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

And now, The Money Show with Stephen Grootes on 702 Let's walk the talk.

Stephen Grootes (0:07)

The Money Show with Stephen Grootes is brought to you by Absa CIB, proud sponsor of the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index 2026 Good evening, eight minutes after six. Welcome to the programme. I'm Stephen Grootes. Lots to talk about this evening, quite a lot of corporate news. When you go to a store and you have a rewards card, what kind of reward do you want? I'll tell you why I ask. We'll talk about Clix and Dischem in a few minutes. Amanda Cromholt literally wrote the book. I mean, literally wrote the book. I think more than one on rewards programmes. And it seems that rewards programmes is the kind of new kind of point of contest between Clix and Dischem. So, you know, we'll be talking about that in a couple of moments. But what do you want? I'll tell you what I want. When I go to a store, and I'm not someone who keeps track of cards, I know people have spree cheats, I'm not one of those people. But nothing for me beats watching the total that I'm about to pay go down when I present my card. So I do a shop wherever I am, and I see the total, I present my card, and the total goes down. I love that. I asked Tadeesaw. Tadeesaw says, no, she wants cash back, like in her hand, cash money. Can't blame her.

I asked Sinan Jabolo. Sinan Jabolo wants, what was it? Cinema tickets. He's nodding, yep, cinema tickets.

I mean, I haven't really been to a movie in a while. I was hoping that the remastered version of Terminator 2 would be shown in a cinema. Doesn't look like it is here, but if that came out, maybe a free cinema ticket for me.

I asked Peter. Peter and Tadeesaw are from the same WhatsApp group. Also, cash in his hand.

Also, cash in the hand. What do you want from a rewards program, please? 72 702 1702 Cinema tickets? Cash to watch the total go down? There are other things.

Maybe a free gift. Maybe a free service. Maybe a big discount on the next shop. What is it that you want from your rewards program, please? Amanda Cromhurt on your radio in a few moments. Before that, Paul Zimnisky, the independent diamond industry analyst. Big deal, it seems, brewing, involving De Beers. We'll talk about that in just a moment. Also this evening, the conversations around executive pay, performance bonuses, short-term incentives are going up very strongly. PwC has a big report out about that. Leila Ebrahimi is the Reward Partner at PwC, an important conversation. And then, illicit goods, so fake goods, things that claim to be one thing but actually aren't. It's a big issue. GPL-1 drugs in particular, they're obesity drugs, tobacco, but there are so many other things. Abraham Nelson is at the Consumer Goods Crime Risk Initiative. I think that's going to be an important conversation. And don't forget, it's a big story. It's brewing at the moment. We thought we'd get ahead, do an investment school on higher bond yields. What that means for you, what it could mean if things really do sort of turn. I didn't use the phrase blow up, turn. 72 702 1702, what do you want from a rewards program, please? Also 11 AA30702 and 214460567

SPEAKER_1 (3:16)

The Money Show with Stephen Grootes, live on 92.7 and 106 FM, streaming on the Prime Media Plus app and DSTV channel 856

Stephen Grootes (3:27)

Well, several reports today, the first from Bloomberg, then from Reuters that Richemont is now keen to join the consortium to take control of the diamond miner, De Beers. Anglo is looking to sell it. The US jewelry group, SIGNET might also want to join the deal. Paul Zimnisky is an independent diamond industry analyst. Paul, good evening. Thanks for your time. So, Anglo wants to sell De Beers. The Global Diamond Consortium seems to be the front runner. These firms, it's reported, wants to join that consortium. How significant is this? Does it change what we understand might be happening in this deal?

Paul Zimnisky (4:03)

Yes. Hi, Stephen. So I think the key takeaway here is this deal has been on the table for two years now. I think it's dragging on longer than everybody would like. But I think with regard to the news today and having some downstream expertise potentially join the consortium, I think it's important to understand that, not to underestimate the complexities of the diamond mining business, but the problem with De Beers over the last decade plus, it really hasn't been the mining side operation. They executed just fine. It's kind of been the demand driving side of the business. And Anglo-American, which is the current owner of De Beers, which has it up for sale, they're one of the top three largest mining conglomerates in the world. They're very good at mining, but I think they would admit themselves that their expertise is not driving demand for a luxury product. The other commodities they produce, copper, iron, ore, they don't really have to drive end user demand for those products. So that's what makes diamonds different. So I think bringing in luxury conglomerates or jewelers as partners provides expertise at the other side of the business, the consumer facing side. Richemont which owns Cartier, that's the largest seller of fine jewelry in the world. Cygnet, it's a US jewelry conglomerate. It's probably the largest seller of diamonds in the world by volume. So these are really heavy hitters downstream that know how to drive consumer demand and really sell the diamond product to the end consumer.