South African grocer Spar Group Ltd. benefited from the end of curbs on the retail sales of alcohol, with trade at its nationwide TOPS liquor stores surging 56% in the 18 weeks through the end of January.<\/p>\n
That helped push Spar\u2019s total sales in southern Africa up by 8.2% from the same period a year earlier, the company said Tuesday in a trading update. Group turnover increased by 5.8% to R45.5 billion ($3 billion).<\/p>\n
Spar\u2019s shares rose as much as 5.1% after the update, the most since November 2020, while trading volumes surged.<\/p>\n
South Africa completely banned alcohol sales for the first five weeks of a lockdown that started in March 2020 to limit the spread of Covid-19.<\/p>\n
Over the next two years, trade was restricted to limited hours and banned outright a few more times, hitting the sales of supermarkets in a country where companies such as Spar, Massmart Holdings Ltd., Shoprite Holdings Ltd. and Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. have come to dominate liquor retail and taken market share from independent bottle stores.<\/p>\n
Spar said it lost 58 liquor-trading days in the 18 weeks through the end of January 2021, and none in the same period to the end of January this year.<\/p>\n
The government allowed retail sales of liquor to return to normal hours at the end of September and finally lifted restrictions on establishments serving alcohol on 30 December.<\/p>\n