JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South African fashion retailer TFG reported a 5.6% decline in half-year profit on Friday, citing lower sales as inflation and high living costs continued to hit discretionary spending by consumers.
TFG, owner of the Foschini and Markham clothing stores, said headline earnings per share in the six months to Sept. 30 fell to 371.6 cents from 393.6 cents a year earlier.
The retailer, which also operates Hobbs and Whistles stores in the UK and menswear clothing brands Connor and Johnny Bigg in Australia, said sales declined by 2% to 25.9 billion rand ($1 billion) in difficult trading conditions across all its territories.
Shares in the company were down 3% by 0723 GMT.
Sales at its Africa arm, which contributes 69.8% to the group, edged down by 0.1%, with TFG saying the figure was distorted by aggressive inventory clearance in the previous period.
Removing the distorting impact of last year’s clearance activity, sales would have risen by 17.1%, it said.
Sales were also down in its Australian and London businesses by 4.1% and 8.7% respectively, in rand terms. The London operation was held back by inventory delays caused by Red Sea shipping disruption as well as high inflation and elevated interest rates.
TFG raised its interim dividend by 6.7% to 160 cents per share.
($1 = 17.4200 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile DludlaEditing by Christina Fincher and David Goodman)
