Business

Good news about Pick n Pay

Luke Fraser

 ·27 Oct 2025

Pick’n Pay has continued to see improvements in its bid for profitability, but admits that another loss will occur in the 2026 financial year.

In its interim results for the six months ended 31 August 2025, Pick’n Pay said that it successfully executed on multiple strategic initiatives.

These were aimed at delivering a meaningful improvement towards profitability.

The group saw its headline loss reduce to R439 million, compared to a loss of R804 million in the prior comparable period.

The improved result was driven by a R227 million trading profit increase.

It also benefited from a R537 million positive net funding interest swing, as the full benefit of the FY25 recapitalisation was realised in Group earnings.

Group turnover increased 4.9%, with 13.9% growth from Boxer and 0.1% growth (4.4% like-for-like) from the Pick n Pay segment.

Gross profit margin expanded from 0.3% to 18.2%, driven by a recovery in the Pick’n Pay segment’s gross profit margin. Other income grew 4.5%.

Trading expenses increased by 4.8%, driven by the Boxer expansion plans.

Group trading profit rose by 273.5% year-on-year to R310 million, which reflects a R931 million Boxer trading profit (+16.2%) and a R621 million Pick n Pay trading loss (+13.5%).

Group net finance costs decreased 44.8% to R627 million, reflecting the net impact of the positive funding interest swing and a 3.9% increase in net lease interest.

This increase in the net lease interest was caused by a relatively high lease interest growth, driven by the Boxer store rollout, which was offset by a reduction in Pick’n Pay.

The group loss before tax and capital items reduced by 69.9% to R317 million compared to a loss of R1.1 billion in the first half of the 2025 financial year.

When accounting for capital items and the 34.4% Boxer non-controlling interest, the attributable loss after tax recovered 40% to a loss of R496 million.

This is a vast improvement from the loss of R827 million in H1 FY25.

Outlook

The group said that the first half of the year showed steady progress in the group’s profit recovery. Boxer’s performance was due to the result of its operational execution.

Boxer will continue to drive its store rollout as it looks to capture a substantial long-term structural growth opportunity.

The improvements are not limited to Boxer, with the group highlighting the improvements of the Pick’n Pay segment.

“Accelerated like-for-like sales growth shows that customers are once again choosing Pick n Pay, and the gross profit margin recovery demonstrates that this is a sustainable recovery.”

“The project to exit unprofitable stores has been successfully executed, with 65 loss-making, company-owned supermarkets expected to have been closed or converted by the end of FY26.”

When including the closed stores and the stores that are at or near profitability, the group said that this part of the strategic plan will come to an end.

Pick’n Pay Clothing opened its 400th stand-alone store and saw further market share gains, with turnover growth of 12.0% (7.5% like-for-like).

Online sales also saw solid double-digit growth, which the group said highlights its increased digital expansion.

Pick’n Pay acknowledged that its core business is currently unprofitable at the trading profit level.

This comes as company-owned supermarkets saw like-for-like sales growth lagging slightly behind like-for-like operating cost growth in the reporting period.

“The multi-year journey of returning Pick n Pay to a profitable and future-fit business continues to be tackled in a purposeful and methodical manner.”

“On a full-year FY26 basis, the Group expects the Pick n Pay segment trading loss to be broadly in line with FY25.”

“This is because Pick n Pay continues to invest in critical skills to rebuild retail excellence to facilitate the achievement of the trading profit after lease interest break-even target.”