Fashion retailer The Foschini Group , on the hunt for bargains, has made a R480-million offer to acquire “at least 371 commercially viable Jet stores” from Edcon, which is in the throes of business rescue. Given the shredding of the retail sector, it seems to be a buyers’ market at the moment.TFG made the announcement in a SENS trading update on Monday 13 July which underscored the woeful state of South Africa’s retail sector.
Excluding its jewellery stores, which remained shut, the company said retail turnover rose 7.9% in May compared to the same month last year.“All TFG Africa stores reopened from 1 June 2020 with trading more subdued in the month of June with lower levels of footfall observed in the regional shopping centres,” the company said.
That stands in pretty sharp contrast to Edcon, which is drowning in about R6-billion of debt and filed for voluntary business rescue in late April. “Jet is a leading southern African retailer and would provide TFG with a strategically important expansion into the value segment of the southern African retail apparel market,” TFG, which owns chains such as Foschini and TotalSports, said.