Retailer Mr Price headline earnings per share up 21.1%

JOHANNESBURG – Retailer Mr Price said on Friday its diluted headline earnings per share increased by 21.1 percent to 1,075.4 cents in the year to March.

Total revenue rose by eight percent to R21.3 billion, with retail sales up 7.6 percent to R20 billion.

The company said cash sales, which constitute 83.7 percent of total sales, grew by 8.4 percent whilst credit sales rose 4.1 percent. Online sales were up 11.5 percent.

“This was a solid performance by a dedicated and talented team, who re-focused and delivered after the under-performance of the previous year,” CEO Stuart Bird said.

The company declared a final dividend per share of 414.1 cents, 5.6 percent lower than the previous year.

Mr Price said its key focus areas in the medium term would be to deliver on its strategic enablement IT and supply chain projects which were imperative in order for it to realise trading opportunities locally and to trade effectively internationally, including Africa, where recovering commodity prices were expected to be supportive of increased consumer spending.

“We are proud of the resilience of our business model and the character shown by our associates in challenging times, and remain cautiously optimistic about the future,” Bird said.

“In our major market, South Africa, there is renewed hope of more robust economic growth, however many structural challenges remain that will not be fixed overnight”

– African News Agency (ANA)

Source: iol.co.za