Shoprite Holdings, Africa’s largest grocer, said that first-half revenue growth slowed to 8.8 per cent from 13 per cent a year earlier, as sales at supermarkets in South Africa underperformed those elsewhere on the continent.
“After an improved second quarter driven by good festive-season trading, the South African supermarket operation increased sales by 7.2 per cent,” the Cape Town-based company said in a recent statement. In Africa, outside of its home market, sales increased by 15 per cent, Shoprite said.
Growth in South Africa has been under pressure, as electricity shortages, plunging metal prices and a drought curbs economic growth. The price of white corn, a staple food in southern Africa that’s also known as maize, has more than doubled on the South African Futures Exchange in the past year.
Shoprite shares gained 3.4 per cent to 132 rand as of the close in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 76 billion rand ($4.6 billion). The broader FTSE/JSE Africa Food & Drug Retailers' Index increased 3 per cent.
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