Company news in brief

Mr Price grows revenue

Mr Price on Friday reported four consecutive quarters of market share gains.

Mr Price grew its total revenue by 5% to R17.6 billion in the first half.

The group added it gained 60 basis points of market share, with its retail sales growth of 5% outperforming the comparable market's 2.2%.

Headline earnings climbed 7% to R1.24 billion, and it upped its interim dividend by more than 7% to 303.6c.

At the same time, the retailer also flagged sales growth of more than 12% in the first seven weeks of the second half of its financial year.

Mr Price believes the tax clampdown on Shein and Temu is working, judging from the negative local commentary on social media reporting much higher prices on these Chinese platforms.

But CEO Mark Blair said the group, which owns such brands as Studio 88, YuppieChef and Power Fashion, also knew fashion players such as Shein, in particular, were "here to stay" and that South African retailers had to find effective ways to compete.

Blair was responding to questions on two separate result webcast and media calls about whether new tax changes aimed at addressing a tax loophole regarding small parcel rules had hit Shein at all and helped Mr Price. - Fin24



Investec downplays credit impairment surge

Investec says the apparent spike in its expected credit losses, which disproportionately stem from its UK operations, are nothing to be overly concerned about.

That's despite the private bank and wealth manager reporting a more than 44% jump in expected credit loss (ECL) impairment charges to £66.9 million (R1.53 billion) in its half-year results to end September.

Of that, about £52.8 million, or almost 79% of the total, stemmed from its business in the UK, where the interest rate jumped from near zero in late 2021 to 5.25% by August 2023.

That has put pressure on some of its UK clients, though the group says this is not evidence of trend deterioration in specific industries or client segments.

Rather, it says the matter is specific to particular UK clients, though it declined to be more specific, citing confidentiality.

"It's a UK issue," Investec CEO Fani Titi told News24. "We don't see any specific industry that's deteriorating. We would expect the cost of risk, as we go forward, to start to moderate. As you get interest rates coming down, after a long period of being higher for longer, you expect at the end of that cycle to have some specific stresses for specific clients." - Fin24



SPAR flags headline earnings rise

SPAR said in a trading update that headline earnings per share were expected to rise by between 6% and 16% in its year to end September, from a restated 826c previously, which accounts for its decision to exit Poland.

It had reported headline earnings of about R1.17 billion for 2023, or 606.6c, before the restatement.

Total headline earnings per share are set to rise by between 16% and 26% in 2024.

Consumers continued to be constrained, it said, but operating costs were well managed.

The ongoing IT system issues at the KwaZulu-Natal distribution centre still weighed on margins, which negatively affected the profitability of the local operation, but system enhancements activated in the latter part of the second half of the financial year have been positive, reflecting improvements in service levels and trading margins which are expected to continue in the 2025 financial year, it said. - Fin24