Those Choppies interims then, to which you are entitled, Choppies being listed on not one but two stock exchanges – Gaborone and our very own JSE. Revenue was up 17% for the six months through December to R4.8bn, with gross profit up 11%. Sadly, though, HEPS, shareholders’ favoured method of measuring profitability, was down 18%, and it’s our fault. Well, the fault of depressed earnings in South Africa’s mining regions, anyway, where Choppies has, so to speak, staked its claim, and where the business lost R32.4m for the period. They remain sanguine however, believing that even the hardest of times must come to an end and that the purchase of 21 Jwayelani stores in the KZN and Eastern Cape regions will help things along in due course. They also announced that they’ve bought another 10 stores in Zambia and are eyeing a few more in Kenya, aiming to reach 200 in total by the end of 2016.
Comment: A savvy and robust business which is in danger of losing its “plucky outsider” status.