Business

Shoprite CEO scores R87 million payday

Luke Fraser

 ·14 Oct 2025

Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht has seen his remuneration rise by close to R4 million, taking his total package to R87 million.

Engelbrecht saw an inflationary increase of 6.0% to his salary for the 2025 financial year ending in June 2025, taking it to R21 million. Inflation was 5.1% in June 2024 and 3.0% in June 2025. 

His 96.9% short-term incentive (STI) performance in FY 2025 (97% in FY 2024) results in a lower cash and deferred share award than the target. 

The executive salary structure changed in the 2024 financial year following the introduction of the Executive Deferred Incentive (EDI). 

The EDI achievement for the year is included in a single figure, but deferred in shares for two years until payment in cash or settlement in equity occurs. 

Thus, Engelbrecht STI’s current stand is R18.1 million, while R15.6 million has been deferred in shares for two years until September 2027. 

The CEO also saw the vesting of shares as part of the group’s Employee Share Plan (ESP), which increased to R30 million in the current financial year. 

The ESP Vesting was the largest contributor to the CEO’s overall rise in remuneration, with a decrease in his benefits and qualifying dividends over the period.

Performance 

Engelbrecht’s pay comes after the group reported sales of over R250 billion in the 2025 financial year, an increase of R20.6 billion from the prior financial year. 

Its core South African supermarkets, Shoprite and Usave, grew turnover by 5.9%, or R6.5 billion. 

Checkers also performed well, with sales up 13.8%, adding R11.6 billion to the group’s revenues.

The group saw its earnings per share increase 22.0% to 1,401.2, including discontinued operations. 

The group’s total profit jumped by 21.9% to R7.6 billion, while revenue jumped by 8.6% to R257 billion.  The group’s total dividend increased by 7.9% to 781 cents for the year. 

The group’s growth can also be seen in its store footprint. Checkers opened 68 new outlets over the year. This included 36 LiquorShop stores. 

There are now 350 supermarkets, of which 40 are large-format Hypermarkets. Engelbrecht added that the “FreshX” store format, which focuses on fresh and higher-quality food, helped win customers. 

“Our strategy to continue the conversion of existing stores to our winning FreshX format, whilst opening stores in areas where we are underrepresented, remains one of our top priorities,” he said in September.

In South Africa, the group added 225 new stores during the year, taking the total to 2,577. For the 2026 financial year, the group wanted to open another 223 stores. 

Despite selling its furniture business and exiting  Ghana and Malawi, the group still ended the financial year with 269 more stores, growing its total network to 3,908 outlets. 

The exit from Ghana and Malawi follows previous withdrawals from the rest of the continent, including exits from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

With the retailer cutting back spending outside of South Africa, it is instead investing more at home.