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The South African Ackerman family’s stake in Pick ‘n Pay has increased in value by more than $20 million in the past 15 days, as investors and market participants on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange renewed buying interest in the retailer following the release of its half-year financial statement.
Pick ‘n Pay is South Africa’s second-largest retailer. Under the leadership of members of the Ackerman family, which includes Raymond Ackerman, who founded the retailer in 1967, the Cape Town-based retail behemoth operates more than 2,000 stores across eight African countries.
The Ackerman family also includes Gareth Ackerman, the group’s chairman. Jointly, the family owns a beneficial 25.53-percent stake in the leading retailer, or 124,677,238 issued shares.
The market value of the family’s stake in Pick ‘n Pay has increased by R365.3 million ($20.1 million) since Oct. 21, a day after the group published its first half results for the 2023 fiscal year.
According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, shares in the leading retailer have risen by more than five percent in the past 15 days, increasing the family’s stake from R6.92 billion ($380.97 million) to R7.29 billion ($401.07 million) at the time of writing.
The surge in the company’s share price, which resulted in a $20-million increase in the value of the family’s shareholding in Pick ‘n Pay, can be attributed to investor reactions to the group’s recently published financial statement, which showed that earnings increased by double digits under a new multi-year strategic plan known as the “Ekuseni strategic plan.”
Despite disruptions in its operating environment, Pick ‘n Pay’s profits rose by 17.5 percent in the first half of its 2023 fiscal year to R348.8 million ($19.02 million), up from R296.8 million ($16.2 million) in the first half of its 2022 fiscal year, according to figures in the group’s recently published financial results.
The company’s strong profit growth reflects the normalization of its operating environment following the July 2021 civil unrest and COVID-19 liquor trading restrictions that had a negative impact on base year sales last year.
