Sharenet Sites 
Sharenet Sites
Lewis Group Limited
Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa
Registration number: 2004/009817/06
JSE share code: LEW
ISIN: ZAE000058236
Bond code: LEWI
('Lewis Group' or 'the group')
TRADING UPDATE FOR THE THIRD QUARTER AND NINE MONTHS ENDED
DECEMBER 2020
The strong customer demand experienced by Lewis Group since the reopening of its
stores at the beginning of June after the hard lockdown continued for the balance of
2020, with the group delivering a robust trading performance in the third quarter to
December 2020.
Despite the ongoing pressure on consumer spending arising from the Covid-19
pandemic and lockdown restrictions, the group delivered strong sales growth of
16.6% for the third quarter to December 2020, supported by another buoyant Black
Friday performance. Cash sales for the quarter grew by 35.9% while credit sales
increased by 2%.
Merchandise sales for the nine months to December 2020 increased by 4%.
Excluding the lockdown months of April and May 2020 when stores were closed,
sales grew by 18.3%.
Comparable stores grew sales by 15.0% for the quarter and 2.4% for the nine
months.
Other revenue, consisting of finance charges and initiation fees, insurance premiums
and fees for services rendered, increased by 2.8% for the quarter and by 2.7% for
the nine months.
Total revenue, comprising merchandise sales and other revenue, increased by
11.5% for the quarter and 3.5% for the nine months.
The recovery in the collection performance reported for the interim results to
September 2020 has continued, with collection rates and the general health of the
debtors' book showing a steady improvement. Collections averaged 75.6% for the
third quarter (Q3 2019: 72.1%) and 69.5% for the nine months (2019: 77.0%).
Growth in debtor costs was contained to 5.1% for the quarter, resulting in an
increase of 19.5% for the nine months.
The financial information in this trading update is the responsibility of the directors
and has not been reviewed or reported on by the group's independent auditor.
Cape Town
27 January 2021
Sponsor
UBS South Africa (Pty) Ltd
Debt sponsor
Absa Bank Limited acting through its Corporate and Investment Banking Division
Date: 27-01-2021 07:05:00
Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za
Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.
