Retail group Pepkor Holdings says its focus on discount and affordable clothing has resulted in substantial market share gains during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the owner of HiFi Corp, Ackermans and Shoe City aiming to further capitalise on this as SA’s economy battles to recover.
Group revenue grew 3.6% to R63.7bn to end-September, but Pepkor swung into a R3bn loss, from profit of R2.1bn previously, writing down its businesses by R4.8bn to reflect a constrained economic outlook. “We are very happy with our exceptional sales performance since our stores reopened after the hard lockdown, and the resultant market share gains,” said CEO Leon Lourens.
Pepkor said as despite this it is opting to be conservative with cash it is not declaring a dividend. The group says it is still considering expansion, however, and this could be driven mainly by Pep and Ackermans.