South African retail tycoon Christoffel “Christo” Wiese has gained R1.7 billion ($122.6 million) in the past 70 days, as renewed buying interest in the shares of the Shoprite retail giant led to a double-digit increase in price.
Shoprite Holdings Limited is South Africa’s largest food retailer and the biggest retailer in Africa. The group employs about 142,000 people in more than 2,913 stores across the African continent.
In the past 10 years, the retailer’s merchandise sales have grown from R72.3 billion ($5.1 billion) in 2011 to R168 billion ($11.8 billion) in 2021, while its trading profit expanded from R4 billion ($281.5 million) to R10.3 billion ($725 million), respectively.
Wiese, who played a key role in the growth of Shoprite from the time it was a tiny chain of eight supermarkets in Cape Town in 1979 to its current 2,913 stores, holds a beneficial stake in the retailer.
The multimillion-dollar gain in his stake was due to a rise in the retailer’s share price on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Investors acquired shares in the group in anticipation of an improved performance at the end of its 2021 fiscal year on July 4.
This bullish bias was supported by Shoprite’s earnings in 2021, as the group recorded growth in its operations at the end of the 2021 fiscal year.
Figures contained in the report revealed that the retailer’s trading profit for the year rose by 24.9 percent to R10.3 billion (725 million) on the back of the success recorded through its cost optimization strategies and 8.1-percent growth in merchandise sales.
As of press time, 4:50 AM (UTC), Sept. 9, shares in the leading retailer on the South African bourse were worth R184.4 ($13.0), 19.2-percent higher than its closing price of R156.8 ($11.0) on July 1, 70 days ago.
The price appreciation caused the market value of Wiese’s stake to jump from R9.9 billion ($696.5 million) on July 1 to R11.6 billion ($819.1 million) as of the drafting of this report.
This translates to a gain of R1.7 billion ($122.6 million) for the retail tycoon in 70 days.
