NEWS ANALYSIS: Spar really should stick to eating at home
Grocer arguably needs offshore earnings to service its hefty euro-denominated debt, but its core — and biggest — business is in SA
05 April 2024 - 05:00
When an investment analyst attending Spar’s pre-close investor call asked whether management would consider pulling out of every country abroad, including Ireland, the CEO responded by saying that it hadn’t “anticipated that question”.
While the SA retailer is exiting unprofitable Poland — scheduled for September — two fund managers have told Business Day they think Spar should stop spending money and effort on its Irish and Swiss divisions and exit those regions. Instead, they reckon it should focus on improving its SA business, which accounted for about 62% revenue in financial year 2023...
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