{"id":867226,"date":"2026-07-23T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867226"},"modified":"2026-07-23T14:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:09:18","slug":"mr-price-takes-control-of-over-2000-stores-in-7-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/867226\/mr-price-takes-control-of-over-2000-stores-in-7-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr Price takes control of over 2,000 stores in 7 countries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mr Price has fully acquired the German value retailer NKD, adding over 2,000 stores to its network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group announced a controversial plan to acquire NKD in 2025 for R9.6 billion, which drew the ire of shareholders given the deal’s high debt level and NKD’s weaker financials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NKD operates over 2,000 stores across Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal has now gone through, and Mr Price has released a trading update for the quarter ended 9 March 2026 to 27 June 2026, which includes NKD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the quarter, the group’s retail sales increased by 45.3% to R13.1 Billion, and other income grew by 12.5% to R352 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that the retail environment in both African and European markets remained unpredictable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prolonged geopolitical uncertainty stemming from the US-Iran conflict weighed on consumer confidence, leading to cautious spending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation rose to two-year highs in South Africa and Germany, while higher interest rates also impact consumers’ disposable income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, the group notes that current economic conditions have supported the resilience
of the value retail sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also remains confident that its portfolio of 16 trading chains is well-positioned to outperform in their respective markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Europe, retail sales, 100% of which were cash, totalled R3.8 billion, with the group stating that NKD outperformed the total apparel market and the value segment in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While 21 NKD stores were closed during the period, 23 were opened, increasing the total footprint to 2,156 stores. Its management remains confident of hitting its annual store growth targets <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group added that NKD exited the quarter with a clean stock position and management is comfortable with its closing inventory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“NKD management is focused on operational excellence and delivery of strategic objectives. The process of reducing NKD\u2019s cost of debt is well advanced,” said Mr Price, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back home <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the group, excluding NKD, total retail sales grew 3.2% to R9.3 billion, while non-South African corporate-owned store sales decreased by 0.3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total store sales also rose by 3.1%, while online sales rose 4.7%, contributing 2.4% of total retail sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s overall store footprint rose by 32 stores on a net basis, and the total footprint expanded to 3,214 stores. Trading space also increased 3.8% on an annual weighted average basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cash sales, which constitute 87.5% of total retail sales, increased 3.1%, while credit sales increased 3.8%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new account approval rate dropped by 50 basis points to 22.8%, with the group stating that it is being cautious with its credit granting in a constrained consumer environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the apparel segment grew by 3.4% over the period, it remains the largest segment in South Africa, accounting for 78.8% of all retail sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The telecoms segment showed the opposite trend, growing 11.2% over the period, but it still only accounts for only 3.9% of all retail sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The global macroeconomic environment remains uncertain as geopolitical tensions continue to fluctuate with low expectations of a near-term resolution,” the group said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The resultant inflationary pressures and potential for further interest rate increases are expected to continue to weigh on consumer confidence and discretionary spending across the group’s key
markets.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s trading conditions are thus expected to remain tough and unpredictable over the balance of the financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Price Retail Sales<\/strong> in Africa<\/strong><\/td>Growth (Q1 FY2027 vs FY2026)<\/strong><\/td>Cont. to Retail Sales<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Apparel segment<\/strong><\/td>3.4%<\/td>78.8%<\/td><\/tr>
Homeware segment<\/strong><\/td>0.7%<\/td>17.3%<\/td><\/tr>
Telecoms segment<\/strong><\/td>11.2%<\/td>3.9%<\/td><\/tr>
Group<\/strong><\/td>3.2%<\/strong><\/td>100.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr Price’s acquisition of NKD has massively expanded its store network, adding over 2,000 stores to its network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":867242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2080269454609432977","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[2910,24355],"class_list":["post-867226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-mr-price","tag-nkd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867226","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=867226"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867244,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867226\/revisions\/867244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}