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Bid Corporation Limited ( Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa ) Registration number : 1995/008615/06 Share code : BID ISIN : ZAE000216537 ( " Bidcorp " or " group " or the " company " ) CAPITAL MARKETS TRADING UPDATE : FOUR MONTHS TO OCTOBER 2021 Shareholders are advised that today , Wednesday December 1st 2021 , Bidcorp wishes to update the market on the trading environment across its operations . This is in accordance with the group's obligation for continuous disclosure in terms of the JSE Listings Requirements . Management comments as follows : Overall market trends The operating environment in most countries is challenging , created by the rapid bounce back that we have experienced in many operations . Although our trading results have achieved a record level in Q1 F2022 , this is not across the board . On the positive side , our UK , Europe , and the Emerging Markets businesses have had a good start to the financial year as most segments of their markets have bounced to pre- COVID levels or above , whilst the negative impact has been from the Australasian businesses , which traditionally accounts for around one third of the group's profits . Australia saw approximately 60 % of its population under strict lockdown for almost the entire first quarter ( NSW and VIC ) whilst in New Zealand , there has been an even stricter lockdown in the greater Auckland region since the middle of August . Fortunately , the vaccination programs have been very successful in both countries , and we are seeing Australia open again very quickly and New Zealand opening slowly . Inflation , labour shortages , supply chain disruptions , wage pressures , and other exogenous factors are now very real and present and are being dealt with by each of our businesses in the most relevant and appropriate manner for their circumstances . The consequence of these challenges is impacting our service levels as we match demand to resource . Ensuring we operate with adequate inventory levels , balancing supply disruption with demand uncertainty remains challenging . Our teams around the world have come to expect unpredictability and continue to remain flexible , nimble , and highly adaptive to the circumstances as they inevitably change , sometimes very quickly . In most geographies in which we operate , we have seen a swift recovery in demand in the discretionary spend sectors . However , activities such as entertainment , sports events , business travel , conventions and conferences , and the cruise line industry , continue to be adversely affected . Non - discretionary demand from our institutional customers , including education , hospitals , aged care , prisons , the military , and government departments has remained stable subject to the usual seasonality where applicable . The work - from - home ( WFH ) requirement has in many cases been replaced to a degree with hybrid work requirements , allowing flexibility to employees of major institutions . Although this has improved activity in large inner capital cities , demand currently is only tracking at 50 % - 60 % of pre - COVID levels , primarily impacting the activity levels of our national customers .