Shoprite Red and white and black all over
A week without Shoprite news would be like a week without – oh, we don’t know, something big and powerful and profitable, we suppose. This week, it’s their interims, with turnover for the six months to December 2014 up 12.5% to R57.5billion. Like store sales grew 5.1%, with internal food inflation running at 5.2% compared with the national average of 8.4%. In SA, sales grew 12%, boosted by a 13% kick in the merry month of December, while performance in Africa at 15% was more muted than we’ve come to expect. This was because of The Big Red One’s strategic withdrawal from Tanzania, as well as a store fire in Angola. At 12.2%, growth on furniture was also pleasing and this will no doubt be helped along when the Wetherly’s investment comes on-stream.
Comment: One in the eye for all the Jeremiahs, naysayers, doubting Thomases and moaning Minnies who said Shoprite, and the rest of retail, was headed south in a clockwise direction if you know what we mean.