RETAILER Shoprite yesterday issued a strong interim operational update with sales up 10 percent and as it raised a glass to LiquorShop’s sales, which increased by a whopping by 49.8 percent due to less strict Covid-19 restrictions.
This despite being impacted by Covid-19 regulations and riots, which occurred in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July.
For the six months to January, 2, 2022, the group’s sales for the period increased by 10 percent to R91.1 billion. Excluding the impact of the temporary closure of the Supermarkets RSA LiquorShop business due to Covid-19 lockdown regulations, the group increased the total sale of merchandise by 8.2 percent.
The group’s core business, Supermarkets RSA, contributed 79.5 percent to group sales and achieved sales growth of 11.3 percent.
“It is noteworthy that this growth was achieved notwithstanding the impact of the civil unrest which severely impacted 189 stores, 135 supermarkets and 54 LiquorShops, and resulted in additional stores not directly impacted being closed for precautionary reasons," Shoprite said.
Supermarkets RSA, excluding LiquorShop sales, achieved sales growth of 9.1 percent. Checkers and Checkers Hyper reported sales growth of 11.4 percent, while Shoprite and Usave reported sales growth of 7.3 percent.
“The group’s LiquorShop business's sales increased by 49.8 percent. Due to Covid-19 nationwide lockdown regulations, the group's LiquorShop business was required to close for 48 days over the six months under review, 48 days during the first quarter; no closures during the second quarter. This compares to 79 days closed for the same reason in the prior year comparative period, 60 days during the first quarter; 19 days during the second quarter.
The group’s other operating segments, including OK Franchise, Transpharm, MediRite Pharmacies, Checkers Food Services (CFS) and Computicket reported sales growth of 8.9 percent.
The Furniture segment of the group that consists of OK Furniture and House & Home reported a decline in sales of 6.5 percent. The segment contributes 4 percent to group sales.
Despite the impact of store closures and reopenings due to the riots, the group added a net of 57 stores to its corporate supermarket business to end the period with 2 003 supermarkets.
“The group’s OK Franchise business, excluding the one store permanently closed due to civil unrest, closed a net of one store to end with 511 stores,” it said.
While the group closed operations in Kenya, Uganda, and Madagascar, it has stores in South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, And Zambia. Sales in these countries increased by 8.4 percent.
Shoprite did not open new stores in those markets, closing five instead, due to the disposal of its operations in Uganda, the group said.
Shoprite plans to release its interims on March 8.
BUSINESS REPORT