Mr Price has seen a rise in its revenue and earnings, but has warned that the South African consumer remains under extreme pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the 26 weeks ended 27 September 2025, Mr Price saw its total revenue increase by 5.4% to R18.6 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s retail sales growth of 5.5% was higher than the comparable market’s sales growth of 5.3%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s basic earnings per share of 512.8 cents and 513.0 cents were up 6.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the results reflected the group\u2019s ability to deliver positive earnings growth in H1, the sales performance is reflective of a consumer environment that remains constrained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group said that the prolonged period of negative real wage growth from 2022 to 2023 has had a lasting impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has compromised household disposable income, resulting in weak levels of consumer expenditure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group added that the short-term relief via lower interest rates and inflation has not been sufficient to offset these effects, resulting in limited discretionary spending capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that continued negative consumer confidence emphasises this challenging environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am pleased that we have once again executed our strategic intent of maximising sales growth at improved margins,\u201d said Group CEO Mark Blair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur value-focused business model enabled us to effectively manage overheads and ensure that we consistently deliver positive earnings growth and returns to shareholders.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group declared an interim dividend of 323.2 cents per share for the period, representing a 6.5% increase and marking a payout ratio of 63%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group also opened 91 new stores during the period, growing its total store base to 3,100 stores and increasing weighted average trading space by 3.5%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
New stores across the group’s portfolio also showed strong returns, while cash sales also increased 5.6% and constituted 88.2% of retail sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Credit sales growth stood at 4.3%, driven primarily by existing account holders, and the group approved 22.6% of new account applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest Transaction Consumer Credit Index has signalled a modest improvement in household credit health, but the group said that the strict affordability criteria remain appropriate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking ahead, the group stated that the consumer environment is fragile in the short term, remaining hopeful of improvement in 2026, supported by a lower inflationary and interest rate environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Volatility in spending patterns is likely to persist as the monthly window for consumer spending is limited by constrained disposable income levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Increasing food inflation and divergence in discretionary spending will likely place an additional strain on household budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said,\u00a0the group noted that consumers have become increasingly value-seeking, with its diversified portfolio of brands remaining well-positioned in their customary market segments.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, it stated that improvements in the operational capacity of the Durban port have positively impacted stock-out and inventory management ahead of the key trading months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retail sales in the first 7 weeks of the second half of the financial year were up 3.3% against a year-over-year base of 12.3%, with momentum improving from October to November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have strong confidence in our team and their ability to continue achieving consistent earnings performances while also delivering for the future,\u201d said Blair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe remain focused on execution across the business and providing value to all our stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mr Price has warned that South African consumers remain under extreme pressure despite lower inflation levels, as salaries have not kept up with rising costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":827106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[2910],"class_list":["post-843913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-mr-price"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843913"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":843920,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843913\/revisions\/843920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Metric<\/strong><\/td> Value<\/strong><\/td> Change<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead> Revenue<\/strong><\/td> R18.6bn<\/td> +5.4%<\/td><\/tr> Gross profit<\/strong><\/td> R7.2bn<\/td> +6.3%<\/td><\/tr> EBITDA<\/strong><\/td> R3.7bn<\/td> +5.5%<\/td><\/tr> HEPS<\/strong><\/td> 513.0c<\/td> +6.5%<\/td><\/tr> Cash resources<\/strong><\/td> R3.0bn<\/td> +37.7%<\/td><\/tr> Interim dividend per share<\/strong><\/td> 323.2c<\/td> +6.5%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Outlook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n