Wal-Mart’s Massmart boosts sales

JOHANNESBURG — Massmart Holdings, South Africa’s largest wholesaler of food and other goods, said an inflation hike and increased spending on building supplies aided its sales during the first half of 2014. Wal-Mart owns the controlling stake in the firm, which saw comparable sales up 7.1% in the first half, compared to a 5.5% increase a year earlier, Bloomberg News reports.