Strong cash boost helps reverse slide at Edcon

Edcon, the country's largest apparel retailer, has improved its performance for the quarter with good cash sales and increased profitability. Credit sales growth - traditionally the group's mainstay - was lower.

The retailer increased Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) by 1% for the second quarter of the 2014-15 financial year, after declining 24% and 6.6% for the previous two consecutive quarters.

"While topline growth remains important, we anticipate market weakness will persist and we will continue to focus on cost control and working capital management," said CEO Jürgen Schreiber.

"With all the planned catch-up capex implemented by the end of fiscal 2015, total capex spend is expected to normalise in fiscal year 2016."

Edcon now has 188 stores outside South Africa, including 53 in Zimbabwe . Earlier this month it opened its first store in Ghana, the start of operations outside the Southern African region.

Edcon said it was in talks to secure a secondary credit provider after the collapse of African Bank.

In a trading update released this week, retailer Woolworths said group sales increased by 47.5% for the first 20 weeks of the current financial year from the same period the previous year, buoyed by its acquisition of David Jones.