To view the PDF file, sign up for a MySharenet subscription.

SHOPRITE HOLDINGS LIMITED - Operational update for the quarter ending September 2019

Release Date: 04/11/2019 09:20
Code(s): SHP     PDF:  
Wrap Text
Operational update for the quarter ending September 2019

SHOPRITE HOLDINGS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
Reg. No. 1936/007721/06
ISIN: ZAE000012084
JSE Share code: SHP
NSX Share code: SRH
LuSE Share code: SHOPRITE
(“Shoprite Holdings” or “the Group”)

OPERATIONAL UPDATE FOR THE QUARTER ENDING SEPTEMBER 2019

In the three months to September 2019, the Shoprite Group’s turnover increased by 7.3%.

The Group’s core business, Supermarkets RSA grew sales by 10.3% during the quarter, continuing its
market share gains. Whilst all three of our supermarket brands traded well, our hard discounter format
Usave led the growth. Internal selling price inflation measured 3.0% over the period.

The Supermarkets Non-RSA segment has seen no change to the difficult operating environment
articulated in our recent results. Currency devaluations have continued and our Nigerian business had a
particularly challenging quarter marred by Xenophobic attacks. Overall our Supermarkets Non-RSA
segment’s sales declined 4.9%. Management is assessing the performance of the Supermarkets Non-RSA
segment, with specific reference to the Group’s return on capital invested in Africa.

The Group’s other operating segments, which include the OK Franchise, Computicket, MediRite
pharmacies and Checkers Food Services, reported a 6.4% increase in sales. The OK Franchise division grew
sales by 8.6%.

Across our three supermarket trading brands Usave, Shoprite and Checkers the Group opened 15 new
stores during the quarter: eight Usaves (four of them the smaller eKasi format), four Shoprites and three
Checkers stores. Our furniture store base reduced by a net 10 stores. Liquorshop added a net 10 stores
to reach a milestone 500 stores. Our OK Franchise division grew its base by a net 10 stores in the quarter.

Not included in these new store openings is the re-launch of our existing Johannesburg based Sandton
City Checkers Hyper in late September. This store is a flagship for the Checkers FreshX format and the
store re-opening is surpassing our expectations.

Developing and subsequently selling properties has been, and continues to be, a Shoprite Group strategy.
During our year-end results we articulated plans to sell and lease-back certain non-strategic properties
and we can confirm we are finalising the terms and conditions of the sale and lease-back of two of our
older distribution centres (DCs) - our Western Cape Brackenfell DC and our Gauteng Centurion DC. These
transactions will not impact our operational control nor management of these facilities. We expect these
sales to be finalised during the second half of our 2020 financial year.

Following the successful IT replatforming of the Group’s store base across 15 countries, the Group is now
able to shift focus to optimising the business. The Group took an important step in engineering the next
era of growth in October with the launch of our Xtra Savings Rewards Programme in all Checkers stores
nationally.

To date, the Xtra Savings Rewards Programme take up has exceeded expectations with more than a million
members signing up after just one week. It marries advanced data processing with marketing automation
into a powerful personalisation engine. This launch aligns with the Group’s focus to ensure our customers
save more every day, paving the way for smarter decision-making and precision retailing. It also unlocks
alternate revenue streams from existing and new customers.

With the momentum achieved during the first quarter, the Group enters the important festive trading
period with confidence in our operations and Group brand strategy both of which position us to deliver
unsurpassed value to our 35 million customers across South Africa and the rest of Africa.



Pieter Engelbrecht              Anton de Bruyn                  Natasha Moolman

Chief Executive Officer         Chief Financial Officer         Group Investor Relations

4 November 2019

Sponsor: Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking

Date: 04/11/2019 09:20:00
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.

Share This Story