Mr Price rallies as profits beat slump

Mr Price earning photographs.PHOTO SUPPLIED

Mr Price earning photographs.PHOTO SUPPLIED

Published Oct 23, 2014

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Johannesburg - Mr Price Group, a South African retailer that sells most of its clothing and housewares for cash, headed for a one-month high after reporting first-half earnings gains that ran counter to a consumer-spending slump.

Mr Price climbed as much as 2.9 percent and and traded up 2.7 percent at 214.30 rand as of 4:01 pm in Johannesburg.

A closing price at that level would be the highest since September 18.

The stock has jumped 31 percent this year, the best performance among South African retailers.

Earnings excluding one-time items in the six months through September 27 climbed as much as 24 percent to 378.2 cents a share, the Durban-based company said in a statement today.

That compares with net income that was little changed in the year through June 29 at competitor Truworths International.

Nationwide retail-industry sales were unchanged in June, the worst performance since December 2009, and the South African Reserve Bank has raised its benchmark interest rate twice this year. - Bloomberg News

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