Despite challenges in its operating environment, Shoprite Holdings, a leading supermarket retail company connected to South African billionaire Christo Wiese, reported a record R5.73 billion ($334 million) in profit at the end of its 2022 fiscal year.
The group’s profit rose by 21.5 percent, from R4.86 billion ($275.4 million) in 2021 to R5.73 billion ($334 million), according to figures from Shoprite’s recently released fiscal quarter. The gains were made possible by a consistent rise in the group’s merchandise sales.
The 9.7-percent growth in revenue from R171.2 billion ($9.99 billion) to R187.74 billion ($10.95 billion) occurred as customers spent an additional R19.6 billion ($1.14 billion) with the top retailer this year.
As a result of the financial performance, the board declared a final dividend of R3.67 ($0.214) per share. The final dividend brings the total payout for the year to R6.00 ($0.35) per share, or a 10.3-percent increase in dividends paid per share over the previous year.
“We are proud of our 2022 financial results especially when considering our high base, the additional week included in our reporting calendar last year and the headwinds as a result of the challenging local and global context,” Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said.
Engelbrecht added that it is encouraging to see that the strong customer momentum generated in previous years is still there, particularly in Shoprite’s core South African supermarket segment, which accounts for 80 percent of the company’s sales.
Shoprite and Usave supermarkets, which together comprise 52.8 percent of the group’s local supermarket business in its home market of South Africa, saw a 7.2-percent increase in sales for the period.
Despite the fact that two of its large-format Checkers Hyper supermarkets are still shuttered as a result of social disturbance in July 2021, sales at Checkers and Checkers Hyper, which account for 39.8 percent of the goods sold at its local supermarkets, climbed by 9.1 percent.
Shoprite Holdings Limited is South Africa’s largest food retailer and Africa’s biggest retailer. The company employs about 142,000 people on the African continent in more than 2,989 stores.
Wiese, a South African billionaire and retail tycoon who was instrumental in the retail giant’s growth, has an 11.58-percent share in the group, which is worth R14.8 billion ($862.4 million).
Wiese has 305.6 million non-convertible, non-participating, no-par value deferred shares in addition to his common stock, which accounts for 32.2 percent of Shoprite’s voting rights.
