South African retailer Shoprite Holdings has recorded an increase in full-year sales and profits, despite trading in what it says is a "highly competitive" trading environment.
The company increased sales in the six months to the end of June to ZAR82.73bn (US$9.96bn), a 14.4% increase on the prior year period. This produced a trading profit, the company said yesterday (21 August), of ZAR4.66bn, up 17.2% on the previous year.
Shoprite's trading margin increased from 5.51% to 5.64%, the highest yet, it said, as a result of sales growth combined with "strict cost controls" throughout the business and "an increasingly efficient" supply chain infrastructure.
Operating profit in the period climbed 16.8% to ZAR4.56bn, while total comprehensive income was up 37.8% to ZAR3.26bn. The retailer said all divisions improved on their performance in the financial year.
Shoprite said it expects trading conditions to remain "largely the same" for at least the first half of the new financial year.
