Spar Group grocery sales steady
Spar Group lifted sales 3.9 per cent to R116.1 billion for the 48 weeks to August 27, boosted by strong sales at Build it, while Spar Southern Africa increased wholesale sales by 4.5 per cent, the group said in a trading update yesterday.
The core Spar grocery business increased sales 0.5 per cent – like-for-like sales increased by 0.2 per cent, while internally measured price inflation slowed to 4.7 per cent.
Liquor sales increased 12 per cent despite trading restricted by lockdowns. Liquor sales increased 61 per cent for the five months to August demonstrating the effect of the low base of the prior year.
A JSE analyst said: “We would agree that the recovery seen by Spar is in line with comments from various players that indicated the alcoholic drinks market started recovering faster than expected.
Spar Group lifted sales 3.9 per cent to R116.1 billion for the 48 weeks to August 27.
“Initial research earlier in the year indicated the market will take two years to recover and to see the same volumes as pre-COVID-19, but since restrictions eased and consumers strong relationship with their favourite alcoholic offerings remained strong, this recovery happened sooner than anticipated.”
Operations in Gauteng and
KwaZulu-Natal were significantly affected by civil unrest in July.
Looted
Of 184 stores initially damaged or looted, 115 had reopened. Another 32 would reopen before the end of the calendar year.
Reopening the remaining 37 stores would be delayed due to the extent of the damage
caused. Build It sales increased by 27.6 per cent, also positively affected by the closure of building material retail during the initial lockdown in 2020.
However, despite strong initial demand, building materials sales slowed in recent months, the group said.
Turnover
BWG Foods, in Ireland and South West England, increased turnover 3.3 per cent, supported by strong contributions from all retail brands and the corporate retail stores. Spar Switzerland saw strong turnover grow 7.3 per cent – both neighbourhood stores and the cash and carry business reported positive growth. Spar Poland increased turnover by 17.5 per cent even though pandemic related challenges continued to hamper the progress of the business.
“Spar Southern Africa benefited from increased home consumption with consumers choosing local, convenient and community-based Spar stores during the initial hard lockdown in 2020,” directors said.