Lewis and Pepkor surge to 52-week highs

The share prices of JSE-listed retailers Lewis Group and Pepkor Holdings, both major players in the home furniture, electronics and appliances space, have hit 52-week highs as trading in home furnishings boom in the face of Covid-19.

Lewis’s share price rocketed over 27% in early morning trade on Wednesday, after it issued a stellar trading update, saying the group’s profit could rise as much as 136% for its full-year to the end of March 2021.

The stock pared a bit, trading over 17% up (at around R34 a share) just after 11h00.

The Lewis Group owns retail chains such as Beares, Lewis stores, Best Home and Electric, and UFO (United Furniture Outlets). It competes directly with Pepkor, which owns JD Group stores such as Russels, Bradlows, HiFi Corp and Incredible Connection.

Pepkor, which has a core clothing retail business with chains like Pep and Ackermans, also posted a strong trading update this week.

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On Tuesday, Pepkor issued a Sens update saying that its headline earnings per share (Heps) for continuing operations could rise by up to 57.9% for its half-year ending March 31, 2021. Heps is the main profit measure in South Africa.

The share price of the country’s largest non-food retail group, firmed more than 6% on Tuesday, following the robust further trading update.

Pepkor’s share price closed at R18.04 cents a share, hitting a 52-week high and above the R18-mark for the first time since January 2, 2020.

On Wednesday morning, however, Pepkor’s share price fell by just over 2% (trading at R17.63 around 11h00), after hitting a high of R18.40 a share earlier in the morning.

The stock is up around 36% year-to-date, but more noteworthily, it has surged some 70% in the past year after hitting lows below the R10 level.

Lewis’s share price is up almost 30% year-to-date. It has surged over 78% during the past year, after trading at below R14 in July last year.