{"id":861902,"date":"2026-05-29T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=861902"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:31:34","slug":"spar-selling-another-international-business-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/861902\/spar-selling-another-international-business-2\/","title":{"rendered":"SPAR selling another international business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The SPAR Group is in the process of selling its UK business, which will add to the retailer’s exits from Poland and Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has entered into an agreement with A.F. Blakemore & Son, a popular SPAR wholesaler, to sell its UK asset, Appleby Westward Group (AWG). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business is selling its right to operate SPAR in South-West England, its 71 company-owned stores, a house, logistics infrastructure, and associated independent retailer supply agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new trading update for the 26 weeks ended 27 March 2026, the group said the disposal should be completed by September 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AWG will then be classified as a discontinued operation under IFRS 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPAR entered the UK in 2014 when it acquired a majority stake in BWG Group, which in turn owned the Appleby Westward Group. It took full ownership in 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, amid a challenging global macro environment and years of misfires by the group, it has decided to focus more on South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group recently sold its Swiss business to Tannenwald Holding, which was sold for a total equity value of CHF 46.5 million (R1 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the sale resulted in a cash outflow for the group of CHF 31 million (R680 million), which included a settlement with the Swiss Competition Commission. However, Tannenwald took over all the debt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another move, the group sold SPAR Poland for R185 million, but had to inject R2.7 billion to recapitalise the business for its buyer Specjal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has, however, decided to retain its Irish business, which remains a strong performer for the group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial pain<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The sales come amid a challenging period for the group, which expects a large decline in earnings, as per its trading update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that wholesale turnover from continuing operations grew marginally year-on-year during the current period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Southern Africa, SA Groceries & Liquor revenue growth remained below internal selling price inflation, which in turn was below the official food Consumer Price Inflation (CPI). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that this limited revenue growth reflected real volume and competitive pressure. That said, momentum improved in the second half of the current period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that SPAR Health delivered strong growth across wholesale and Scriptwise pharmacy channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that Build it posted positive like-for-like growth, and was supported by infrastructure spend and a recently launched rewards programme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPAR2U also continued to scale, with e-commerce order volumes up strongly year-on-year. It added that retailer loyalty remained strong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that Ireland, where the group is keeping its stake, saw a strong performance, with top-line growth in local currency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When looking at the group’s total earnings, which includes discontinued operations, the group expects basic earnings per share to rise by over 100% from a loss of 2,211 cents to between 70 and 80 cents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, headline earnings per share (HEPS) are expected to decline by over 55% to a range of 104-133 cents per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at continuing operations, the group expects earnings per share to decline by over 55% to a range of 140-180 cents per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that the earnings decline reflects a combination of underlying trading conditions and current-period operational anomalies, including weak KZN performance and elevated Black Friday spend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group was also impacted by impairments of historical asset carrying values and a more conservative approach to debtors provisioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group will provide further details in its official interim results, which will be presented on 10 June 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In response to margin, cost and competitive pressures, the group has identified and is executing on a set of structural initiatives intended to realign its cost base and improve operating leverage over time,” it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Further, a refreshed leadership team is in place to accelerate execution and sustainable long-term performance.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial Metric<\/strong><\/td>26 Weeks Ended 27 March 2026 – Expected Range (cents per share)<\/strong><\/td>26 Weeks Ended 28 March 2025 – (Cents per share)<\/strong><\/td>26 Weeks Ended 27 March 2026 – Expected Range (%)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
HEPS<\/strong><\/td>104 to 133<\/td>296<\/td>-65% to -55%<\/td><\/tr>
Diluted HEPS<\/strong><\/td>104 to 133<\/td>296<\/td>-65% to -55%<\/td><\/tr>
EPS<\/strong><\/td>70 to 80<\/td>(2,211)<\/td>>100%*<\/td><\/tr>
Diluted EPS<\/strong><\/td>70 to 80<\/td>(2,208)<\/td>>100%*<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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SPAR is selling its UK business to focus on South Africa, but its financial expectations are extremely concerning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":861922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,4],"tags":[9838],"class_list":["post-861902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-business-opinion","tag-spar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861902","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=861902"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861929,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861902\/revisions\/861929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}