* H1 headline EPS at 280.8 cents vs 236.8 cents
* Sales at 41 billion rand vs 33.1 billion rand
* Shares slightly lower
(Adds details, shares)
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 21 – Africa’s biggest food retailer
Shoprite reported an 18.6 percent rise in first-half
profit on Tuesday, helped by higher prices, a favourable
exchange rate and above-inflation wage increases for consumers
in its main South African market.
Shoprite, which runs discount chains, said headline earnings
per share totalled 280.8 cents in the six months to end-December
compared with 236.8 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS, the primary profit measure in South Africa,
strips out certain one-off items.
The results support data showing that consumer spending is
improving in Africa’s biggest economy due to decades-low
interest rates and above-inflation wage hikes for workers in
several sectors, but the outlook is uncertain due to high
personal debt levels and 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.
Shoprite, a domestic merchant seen likely to lose the most
from discounter Wal-Mart’s entry into the country, has
also benefited from store expansion at home and across the
continent.
Continued…
