JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South African supermarket group Shoprite said on Tuesday that full-year headline earnings rose by 7.2% and announced the sale of its furniture business to discount retailer Pepkor.
Headline earnings per share from continuing operations rose to 12.50 rand in the 52 weeks to June 30, up from 11.66 rand the previous year.
The owner of upmarket grocery chain Checkers and discount brands Shoprite and Usave declared a final dividend of 445 cents per share.
Shoprite’s group sales from continuing operations rose by 12% to 240.7 billion rand, boosted by both its upmarket and discount grocery brands. Its core South African supermarkets business increased sales by 12.3% to 195 billion rand.
Trading profit increased by 12.4% to 13.4 billion rand.
The retailer said it agreed to sell its furniture business including the OK Furniture and House & Home brands to Pepkor, for about 4% of Pepkor’s 80.49 billion rand market capitalisation, in order to focus on its core grocery business.
Shoprite also said that it was in advanced discussions to purchase the remaining 50% stake in its last-mile logistics provider Pingo.
Pingo supports its grocery delivery business Checkers Sixty60, which has benefited from increased online demand since the pandemic.
(Reporting by Nqobile DludlaEditing by David Goodman)
