Pick n Pay has published its interim financial results for the six months ending 1 September 2019.<\/p>\n
Despite a difficult trading environment, the group said that trading profit in its core South African business was up 16.4%, with trading profit margin up from 2.5% to 2.8% of turnover.<\/p>\n
Headline earnings per share grew 17.5% to 91.28 cents, with diluted HEPS up 18.8%.<\/p>\n
On a comparable basis, excluding hyperinflation gains in Zimbabwe, headline earnings per share were up 9.5%, and diluted headline earnings per share were up 10.7%.<\/p>\n
Comparable profit before tax (PBT) was up 9.7%, with the PBT margin improving from 1.2% to 1.3%<\/p>\n
The group said that 63 net new stores were added, with an investment of R758 million spent on instore expansions, refurbishments, supply chain capability and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Group chief executive (CEO) Richard Brasher said that he was pleased with another strong results – despite tough trading conditions inside and outside South Africa.<\/p>\n
“In this environment, retailers have found it difficult to balance their two key objectives: delivering solid sales growth while maintaining profit margins,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I am very pleased that we have succeeded in growing both our sales and our profits.\u00a0 This is a significant achievement \u2013 given in particular the negative impact of foreign exchange volatility affecting our associate TM Supermarkets in Zimbabwe.”<\/p>\n
Insurance\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Pick n Pay said that it will continue to focus on its value-added services strategy to allow customers to ‘do more in-store’.<\/p>\n Income from these services grew 16.1% year-on-year, with growth across all categories in Pick n Pay and Boxer, including banking, money transfers and a growing travel and event ticketing offer.<\/p>\n To this end, the group has launched a portfolio of insurance products in partnership with Hollard.<\/p>\n Pick n Pay said that this offer is currently available in 25 of its stores and has shown ‘encouraging results’ to date.<\/p>\n The offer will be expanded and rolled out to more stores over the next 18 months, it said.<\/p>\n The retailer said that it has also seen success from its exclusive partnership with TymeBank, which now has 850,000 customers.<\/p>\n
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