Shoprite earnings up by 10.3%

Africa’s largest grocer, Shoprite Holdings on Tuesday delivered a robust set of full-year results with headline earnings up by 10.3%, boosting dividend per share up to R6 for the year ended July 2022.

Shoprite reported group sales growth of up to R184 billion in the period while seeing growth in the number of customer visits. The food retailer says it suffered some set back resulting from the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, and last year’s social unrest which resulted in the permanent closure of 10 stores.

Shoprite and its Usave and Checkers business all boosted sales, contributing to the food retailer’s record high market share.

Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht says he is proud that the retailer has managed to produce record numbers while maintaining its commitment to low prices for its customer base.

Shoprite earnings increase – CEO Pieter Engelbrecht shares more:

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“The highest dividend ever declared of R6 per share. Another record, which is an R6,2 billion gain in market share in a single year – the highest ever in one year, and the pleasing part of it is that the bulk of it came from the Shoprite brand. We are affordability obsessed. We’ve shielded customers against rising inflation, ending the year with an internal prices inflation of 3.9%.”

Shoprite and the Checkers LiquorShop business increased sales by 44.5%. It says this was due to strong underlying growth and the fact that the business was closed for fewer days due to COVID-19 regulations this year, compared to last year.

Shoprite Chief Financial Officer Anton De Bruyn explains, “Shoprite and Usave increased sales by 7.2% to R7.9 billion with Shoprite increasing sales by 6.7% and Usave by 11.4%. The significance of this result is that these two brands were most impacted by the civil unrest in July. Liquor shops and others increased sales by 44.5% to R10.8 billion. With our liquor shops increasing sales by 44.5%, part of the effects was the COVID-19, lockdown regulations, but we also back to opening a store a week.”

Shoprite says it plans to open 63 new stores next year.