Massmart shares gain despite lost sales

JOHANNESBURG – Massmart profits tumbled 40 percent during the 26 weeks to June as store sales slumped on the Covid-19 lockdown pandemic fallout.

Massmart, which operates 420 retail and wholesale stores in 13 sub-Saharan countries, reported a net loss of R1.2bn compared to an R800 million loss a year earlier.

The group’s headline loss was R1.1bn compared to an R800m headline loss during the same period last year.

Group sales fell 9.7 percent to R39.6bn from R43.3bn in the prior year with a similar decline in comparable-store sales.

“Sales were significantly impacted by various restrictions put in place by respective governments in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the jurisdictions in which we operate,” said Massmart.