Shares of Shoprite, the owner of retail brands Checkers and Usave, had their best day in nine months on Tuesday, after a rebound in liquor sales helped it book close to double-digit sales growth for its 2022 year.
Shoprite’s share price closed 4.71% higher at R219.22, recording its biggest gain since November, after earlier rising as much as 5.9%. It is up 5% so far in 2022, and has more than doubled over the past two years.
Sales rose 9.6% to R184.1bn in the year to July 3, the retailer said in a trading update, or by 11.9% when excluding an extra trading week in the prior year.
The company said its core SA supermarkets business, which accounts for 80% of revenue, grew sales by 10.1% on a reported basis, with sales in its LiquorShop brand up 44.5%, after being shuttered for only 48 days during the year, from 144 previously.
Alcohol sales have become an integral part of Spar, Pick n Pay and Shoprite’s revenue streams.
According to the recently released Marketing All Product Survey (Maps) that conducts a marketing-style census of more than 20,000 SA consumers, Shoprite Liquor was the most visited liquor chain in SA, attracting an estimated 2.4-million consumers in 2021, with Spar’s Tops brand just behind.
Shoprite said its results came in spite of the lingering effect of the July 2021 civil unrest, which severely hit 189 stores in its supermarkets division, while others had been closed as a precaution. At period end, 31 stores remained closed, nine permanently, while the remaining 22 are set to reopen during the course of its 2023 year.
Shoprite remains the market leader in food retail, and has the highest revenue and an ambitious expansion strategy, with it opening pet, baby and even outdoor stores, while also improving its financial services.
Supermarkets SA opened a net 117 stores during the year, bringing the total to 1,820.
The group’s furniture business, which has been trailing other divisions, saw sales decline 1.4% in the year.
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