Cost control keeps Massmart buoyant
Africa’s second-largest retailer manages to fend off tough trading conditions in the year to end-December with tight cost control
Tight cost control helped Massmart fend off tough trading conditions in the year to end-December as it lifted its trading profit 11.9% to R2.6bn. Africa’s second-largest retailer grew its headline earnings 15.6% to R1.3bn from the year-earlier period. Total sales were up 7.7% to R91.3bn while comparable store sales rose 5.4%. Product inflation as at 6.7%. Nineteen stores were opened and 10 closed, which resulted in a total of 412 stores at December 2016. Gross margin inched up to 19% from 18.9%. Operating expenses were tightly controlled, increasing 7.7% over the previous year, and great expense control resulted in comparable expense growth of only 5.4%.
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