South African retail tycoon Christo Wiese to earn $15.1 million as Shoprite declares final dividend for 2021

Omokolade Ajayi -

Africa’s largest retailer Shoprite Holdings Limited has announced that it will pay shareholders a final dividend of R2.1 billion ($141.1 million) on Oct. 4 from its profit at the end of its 2021 financial year.

This is expected to drive Shoprite’s full-year dividend distribution to R3.2 billion ($217.5 million).

The leading retailer made this known in a recent disclosure after the board declared a final dividend of R3.53 ($0.239) per share, resulting in a full-year dividend distribution of R5.44 ($0.368) per share to shareholders of its 591,338,502 ordinary shares.

This represents its highest distribution to shareholders since going public. The full-year dividend also reflects a 42-percent dividend growth rate compared with last year’s distribution of R3.83 ($0.259) per share.

The double-digit growth in its dividend can be attributed to the increase that it recorded in its trading profit from R4 billion ($281.5 million) to R10.3 billion ($725 million).

Peter Engelbrecht, the CEO of the South Africa-based retailer, said that despite a challenging fiscal year the group was able to create value for shareholders due to its commitment and effective execution of its strategies.

He noted that merchandise sales during the year increased by 8.1 percent to a total of R168 billion ($11.8 billion). In rand terms, this growth equates to an additional R12.6 billion ($852.7 million) in sales compared to last year’s figure.

With the local dividend tax rate pegged at 20 percent, shareholders liable to pay dividend tax should expect a net local dividend amount of R2.82 ($0.191) per share, while those exempt from the tax will receive R3.53 ($0.239) per share on Oct. 4.

Therefore, Christo Wiese, the South African billionaire who played a critical role in the growth of Shoprite, is expected to pocket a gross dividend of R222.8 million ($15.1 million) from the retailer.

This takes his total dividend earnings to R343.3 million ($23.2 million).