JOHANNESBURG - Edcon, South Africa's biggest clothing retailer said retail sales had taken a knock in the quarter ended December following the sale of the Legit business and exit of unprofitable international brands.
Retail sales decreased by 9.4% to R7.64bn from R8.44bn impacted by the sale of the Legit business, the exit of non-profitable international brands and the closure of unprofitable.
"Our strategy of exiting non-profitable international brands and the optimization of merchandise categories and store rationalization has
impacted on our retail sales performance with like-for-like retail sales decreasing by 4.9 percent," the company said.
It also said while retail sales were affected by weak consumer demand and fierce price competition through ongoing promotions and clearance activity by competitors, both Edgars and Jet continued to trade positively in ladieswear and footwear in Edgars.
The 80-year-old retailer is the largest non-food retailer in South Africa.