{"id":863204,"date":"2026-06-10T09:03:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=863204"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:07:22","slug":"another-gut-punch-for-spar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/863204\/another-gut-punch-for-spar\/","title":{"rendered":"Another gut-punch for SPAR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The SPAR Group’s latest financial results have been weak despite the group swinging from a R4.2 billion loss to a R147.3 million profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its interim results for the six months ended 27 March 2026, the group said that it faced significant pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included three main challenges: underperformance in KwaZulu-Natal, an ineffective Black Friday campaign that failed to deliver a return on investment, and residual balance sheet clean-ups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the performance for the period demonstrated the scale of the challenge facing the group, it also provided a clear baseline against which progress and recovery can be measured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These are not market problems; they are execution problems, and they are fixable,” said new Group CEO Reeza Isaacs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We allowed our cost base to outgrow revenue for too long. We also failed to treat retailer profitability as our primary metric.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the group’s continuing operations, group revenue increased by 3.6% to R67.5 billion. However, profit from continuing operations declined from R768.1 million in H1 2025 to R291.7 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s Poland, Switzerland and United Kingdom operations have also been classified as discontinued operations, with the first two already sold and the UK business in the sale process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s discontinued operations recorded massive write-downs of over R4 billion in the prior period, resulting in losses of over R5 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest results show the loss from discontinued operations declining to R144.4 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When including continuing and discontinued operations, the group’s total profit attributable to owners improved from a loss of R4.2 billion to a profit of R147.3 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a basic earnings per share level, the group saw an improvement from a loss of 2,610.0 cents to a profit of 76.5 cents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, headline earnings per share, which ignore once-off items and non-operational matters, declined by 53.9% to 123.6 cents per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovery plans<\/h2>\n\n\n
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SPAR Group CEO Reeza Isaacs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Isaacs, a former executive at Woolworths, will lead the group’s recovery strategy, which prioritises improving retailer outcomes first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has thus intensified engagement with independent retailers and the National Guild to ensure retailer concerns are heard and resolved more quickly. It has five pillars of execution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes stronger procurement, improving brand and marketing effectiveness, modernising retail systems and processes, and helping retailers improve profitability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also plans to reposition SPAR2U, which it said should allow for a more personalised retail experience, supported by investment in a new platform and the continued growth of digital partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In KZN, a structured stabilisation programme has restored three straight months of operating profit to close the half, with out-of-stock rates materially improved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s new local perishables model has also improved availability and driven revenue growth. New leadership is in place across Merchandise, Finance and Retail Operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the group has exited three international markets, the group is keeping its Irish business (BWG). BWG Foods saw a solid performance with sales up 2.2% to \u20ac855.7 million, and gross margins improved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business continues to provide a strong example of how independent retailers can outperform when supported by the right wholesale infrastructure, operating disciplines and customer proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early indicators also suggest that corrective actions are underway. Gross-profit growth turned positive in February and March, with KZN service levels improving and SPAR health up 26%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPAR Rewards\u2019 sales increased 9.3% year-on-year, with the SPAR Rewards programme now having 12.8 million registered cards, and members spending 74% more per basket than non-members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Recovery will not be defined by a single reporting period. It will be defined by consistent operational improvement, stronger retailer outcomes and visible progress over time,” said Isaacs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We believe in the independent retail model because it offers local relevance that other retail chains cannot match.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While SPAR’s latest finances do not include billions in losses from discontinued operations, the group’s South African operations are struggling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":856831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[9838],"class_list":["post-863204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-spar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863204","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=863204"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863219,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863204\/revisions\/863219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}