Shoprite achieves incredible sales performance in half year

Retail giant Shoprite continues to outperform its peers, reporting on Tuesday that the group's sales for the six months to 31 December 2023 rose by 13.9% to R121 billion.

This comes as the group extended its “uninterrupted market share acquisition period” in its core South African supermarket business to 58 months. The company has clearly benefited from the woes of Pick n Pay and Massmart, and has also beaten competitors such as Spar and Woolworths by achieving double-digit sales growth.

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Shoprite Group CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said on Tuesday: “The 14.6% increase in sales in our core business units equates to R12.4 billion in additional customer spend compared to the same period last year.” Stated.

All three of Shoprite's major retail chains – Shoprite, Checkers/Checkers Hyper and U-Save – achieved double-digit sales growth over the same period.

Financial and operational highlights of the interim results:
– Group merchandise sales increased by 13.9% to R121.1 billion
– Supermarket RSA merchandise sales increased by 14.6% to R97.5 billion
– Headline diluted earnings per share (Dheps) increased by 7.6% to 621.4 cents (2023: 577.5 cents)
– Interim dividend per share increased by 7.7% to 267 cents (2023: 248 cents)
– Shoprite Group opened a net 369 stores in the last 12 months
– Group’s supermarket operations created 2,202 new jobs in six months
– Checkers and Checkers Hyper divisions saw a 13.7% increase in sales.
– On-demand delivery with Checkers Sixty60 increased sales by an additional 63.1% over 6 months
– Shoprite increased sales by 13.1%
– Shoprite, which includes the 51 stores (Cambridge) acquired from Massmart Holdings, increased sales by 13.2%.
– USave, the group’s exclusive assortment discounter, increased sales by 12.3%

“Despite an unusually high sales growth of 17.5% in the same period last year, the 14.6% increase in sales for the interim period is in line with growth in other South African markets, according to Nielsen IQ. , compared to 7.6% in the same period,” Engelbrecht commented.

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“While the business situation in South Africa remains challenging and costly, we are very pleased to report an increase in profit and dividend for the period, particularly given the ongoing costs of diesel generators during load shedding.

“The Group continues to invest in its business across many fronts: technology and digital, supply chain, stores and, of course, people. In six months, we added a net 197 stores, taking the total to 3,543 stores. , our Group job growth efforts have resulted in the creation of 2,617 new jobs. In addition, our Shoprite Employees Trust has set aside 122 million yen for employee distribution to eligible employees in South Africa. Rant and similar incentives were granted by subsidiaries in countries other than South Africa,” he added.

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