Africa-Press – South-Africa. SA’s largest grocery retailer said on Tuesday its local supermarkets division delivered sales growth of 17.5% for the six months to 1 January, adding that on a like-for-like basis it rose by more than 11%. This segment, which accounts for just over 80% of group sales, was also able to raise selling prices by 9.4%.
“The growth in sales reflects a record Black Friday and festive season, underpinning 46 months of uninterrupted market share gains,” it said.
Across the Shoprite group the total sale of merchandise rose 16.8% to about R106.3 billion.
But this kind of growth also came at a price with the company saying it had to fork out an additional R560 million during the half on diesel to operate generators across its South African supermarkets store base in order to “trade uninterrupted during load shedding Stages 5 and 6”.
The market cheered the update with the retailer’s shares rising more than 2% to R249.82 on Tuesday morning.
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Internal price inflation increased 9.4%, which Shoprite said reflected its “product mix exposure to commodities, where selling price inflation has been notably higher”.
The retailer’s top brands all delivered double-digit increases with Supermarkets RSA – represented by Shoprite, Usave, Checkers, Checkers Hyper and LiquorShop – sales delivering a standout performance with a 35.6% increase in sales.
Checkers and Checkers Hyper reported sales growth of 16.9%, while Shoprite and Usave reported sales growth of 15.1%.
Shoprite’s rest of Africa stores also increased sales 17.5%, contributing 9.4% to group sales. In constant currency these stores increased sales by 6.9%.
The company’s furniture division, which includes OK Furniture, OK Power Express and House & Home, reported an 8.6% increase in sales, with sales increasing 5% on a like-for-like basis.
Shoprite’s “other” operating segments, including among them Transpharm, Medirite Pharmacies and Checkers Food Services, among others, reported sales growth of 12.5%..
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