SA supermarkets drive Shoprite market share growth record

Retail group Shoprite has increased revenue for the half-year to December by 9.4% to R130.8bn, boosted by strong performance from its South African supermarkets which delivered a record market share growth. 

Sales from the group’s core businesses, including Shoprite, Usave, Checkers, Checkers Hyper, LiquorShop and adjacent businesses, including Checkers Sixty60 delivery, rose 10.4% to R107.7bn. Group trading profit from continuing operations increased by 13.5% to R7.3bn. Shoprite group declared an interim dividend per share of 285c, up 6.7%. 

It opened 283 shops in the past 12 months.

Shoprite group shops recorded 652-million customer visits, up 4.6%. The group sold 3.7-billion products, an increase of 6%. 

Shoprite and Usave, including Shoprite LiquorShop, increased sales by R3.9bn or 7.1% to R59.2bn, contributing 55% to the group’s core Supermarkets RSA segment’s sales. Checkers and Checkers Hyper, including Checkers LiquorShop, increased sales of merchandise by R5.7bn or 13.6% to R47.6bn, contributing 44.2% to the group’s core Supermarkets RSA segment’s sales. Excluding Checkers LiquorShop, the Checkers banner increased sales by R5.2bn to R43.7bn for the six months, up 13.5%. 

Shoprite Group CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said the growth in sales achieved is “the result of detailed data-led planning and execution, evidenced by our three core South African trading banners and their adjacent new formats collectively adding R10.2bn in sales to our base for the six months”. 

The performance “is not due to base effects or acquisitions. It has been achieved against a higher base than any peers owing to years of sustained market-leading growth. We are not a single-brand business operating in a single market segment. We are a multi-brand platform business operating at scale.”

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