South African (SA) retailer Shoprite Holdings said on Wednesday it expects annual headline earnings to rise by as much as 14.7%, supported by steady sales growth and expansion in its core grocery business.
Africa’s largest supermarket group said sales of merchandise from continuing operations for the 52 weeks ended June 28 increased 7.2% to about $16.7 billion from $18.51 billion a year earlier.
Shoprite said it expects headline earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.93 to $0.97, up 9.7% to 14.7% from the previous years.
The core Supermarkets SA division, which accounts for 84.5% of group sales, increased sales by 7.1% to $13.63 billion.
Like-for-like sales rose 2%, while internal selling price inflation remained subdued at 0.8%, below SA’s food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation rate of 3.9%.
Outside SA, the group’s supermarket operations increased sales by 11% in Rand terms and 7.1% on a constant-currency basis.
–Reuters–
