A barnstorming set of results this week from The Big Red One – turnover up 13.6% to R67.4biljoens, trading profit up 18.7% to R3.5billion, with trading margin up a tad to 5.18%. Market share, hm, tricky. The official number for the year is 32.6%, up 1.2% on ’09. But the number for June is an unofficial 34.4%, after Nielsen’s VAT mistake – adding for some retailers, not adding for others – has been taken into account. And all of this in a heck of a year, with nearly 800,000 jobs lost, and Group food inflation now in negatory territory. Africa, as usual has been quite a help, and the other big story is Usave, 1,400 rockbottom items per store and a new one opening almost every day now. The bad news is all circumstantial – shaky prospects for recovery, the hideous cost of electricity to retailers and consumers (and hence retailers), the strength of the rand, which elsewhere in the continent has been something of a bonus.
Comment: Excellent stuff, that beefy chap. Not you, Nataniël. The other one.