* Headline EPS at 135.5 pct vs 100.6 cents
* Sales up 11.1 pct to 14.2 bln rand
* Expects similar rate of sales growth in H2
(Adds details, shares)
JOHANNESBURG, FEB 16 – South African retailer
Woolworths Holdings reported a 35 percent rise in
first-half profit on Thursday, helped by favourable swings in
currencies and robust spending over the Christmas period.
Woolworths, which sells clothing and high-end food, said
diluted headline earnings per share totalled 135.5 cents in the
six months to end-December compared with 100.6 cents a year
earlier.
Woolworths, similar in style and products to Britain’s Marks
and Spencer Group Plc, said sales rose 11.1 percent to
14.2 billion rand ($1.84 billion).
The company said trading in the first six weeks of the
second half suggested that it was likely to post a similar rate
of growth through the end of June.
Consumer spending is improving in Africa’s top economy
thanks to decades-low interest rates and above-inflation wage
increases, but the outlook is uncertain due to high personal
debt levels and chronic unemployment.
South African retail sales jumped 8.7 percent year-on-year
in December, from an upwardly revised 7.2 percent growth in
November and beating a 6.5 percent slow down economists had
expected.
Shares in the company, which also operates in Australia
through its unit Country Road Holdings, fell 1.55
percent, paring this year’s gains to 7.2 percent.
($1 = 7.7336 South African rand)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
