Johannesburg - South African home-finishing products retailer Italtile said on Friday that it planned to open 15 more stores.
This shows its optimism for its business despite a continued subdued economic climate and rand weakness that could force other, smaller operators to close down.
Italtile, which reported on Thursday that revenues for the year to end-June rose 17 percent to R5.22 billion, said: “Italtile has no plans whatsoever to shut down any of its own franchises and, in fact, has robust growth plans, including the intention to open 15 stores in the year ahead.”
The company, which earlier reported a 22 percent rise in headline earnings per share to 71.6 cents, did, however, caution: “In the event of further rand weakness, continued rationalisation, especially amongst smaller independent traders – not aligned with the group – is anticipated.”
Italtile – which sells local and imported tiles, bathware and laminated flooring under the Italtile Retail, CTM and TopT brands said that if economic conditions did not worsen, it could “deliver results in line with its current performance in the next reporting period”.
ANA