Pick n Pay reported a 25% jump in annual profit, its first increase in three years, as new CEO Richard Brasher's programme of store openings and cost cuts started to pay off.
Once a favourite of investors and customers, the country's second-biggest food retailer by stores has trailed peers both operationally and on the stock market due to its late investment in streamlining its supply chain.
But the appointment of Brasher, former UK head of Tesco, about a year ago is widely expected to help the company compete better with larger rivals Shoprite and Massmart.
Brasher said the results - the company's first annual profit increase since 2010 - reflected a focus on price, merchandise and service.
He said the improved profits were "nothing magical".
"It's just good, honest shopkeeping," he said.
Pick n Pay's performance since Brasher took over has already prompted the company's retired founder, Raymond Ackerman, to proclaim its revival.
But Chris Gilmour, an analyst at Absa Asset Management, said: "It's far, far too early to say Pick n Pay has recovered.
"I feel it's going to take a long, long time before they get anything like the profit margins that Shoprite has got ."
Pick n Pay's operating margin has averaged 3% over the last five years, the lowest of nine major South African retailers and half of what Shoprite has achieved over the same period.
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