Last week, TFG, the owner of Foschini and @Home, said in a trading update that the investment in battery backup power solutions has proved sound and partly mitigated the effect of load-shedding in its South African businesses. By the end of December 1,455 stores had backup power, with plans to ensure all stores have backup power over the next few months.
“Additional diesel and security costs were incurred to protect operations and stores impacted by deeper levels of load-shedding,” it said.
Woolworths said in a trading statement recently that load-shedding continues to have a “pronounced impact on our predominantly fresh business in terms of foregone sales, and increased waste. Additionally, we continue to incur a significant increase in diesel costs to enable trade during the extended power outages”.
Shoprite, the owner of brands such as Computicket and Checkers, said its South African supermarkets business, which contributes 80.1% to group sales, achieved sales growth of 17.5%, lifted by a record Black Friday and festive season.
Business Times
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Stages 5 and 6 of load-shedding have cost Shoprite R560m on diesel
South Africa's biggest retailer Shoprite has spent R560m on diesel to power its stores in the six months to January 1 as electricity blackouts escalated in the last quarter of 2022, it said in a trading statement issued on Tuesday.
“The group's additional spend on diesel to operate generators across our supermarkets RSA store base to trade uninterrupted during load-shedding stages 5 and 6 amounted to R560m for the period,” it said.
Retailers including Pepkor, Mr Price, Woolworths and TFG have also complained about the disruption, which caused them thousands of lost trading hours and increased operational costs to keep the lights on. The companies are also spending millions to add backup power to stores.
Pepkor said in a trading update on Monday that its trading performance during the quarter was negatively affected by unprecedented levels of electricity disruptions. Seventy percent of stores were able to trade during load-shedding through backup power systems.
“The impact of load-shedding was more pronounced in the rural and deeper outlying areas where the group’s retail footprint has higher representation,” it said.
Last week, TFG, the owner of Foschini and @Home, said in a trading update that the investment in battery backup power solutions has proved sound and partly mitigated the effect of load-shedding in its South African businesses. By the end of December 1,455 stores had backup power, with plans to ensure all stores have backup power over the next few months.
“Additional diesel and security costs were incurred to protect operations and stores impacted by deeper levels of load-shedding,” it said.
Woolworths said in a trading statement recently that load-shedding continues to have a “pronounced impact on our predominantly fresh business in terms of foregone sales, and increased waste. Additionally, we continue to incur a significant increase in diesel costs to enable trade during the extended power outages”.
Shoprite, the owner of brands such as Computicket and Checkers, said its South African supermarkets business, which contributes 80.1% to group sales, achieved sales growth of 17.5%, lifted by a record Black Friday and festive season.
Business Times
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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