Spar can toast alcohol sales
The group’s liquor division outperforms growth in the general retail division while overall results disappoint
Despite difficult economic conditions, South Africans continued spending money on alcohol, lifting The Spar Group’s results, with its liquor division outperforming growth in the general retail division. On Wednesday, the group reported its liquor division, Spar Tops, which makes up about 10% of the wholesale business, recorded double-digit growth. Portfolio manager at 36One Asset Management, Evan Walker, said that while the group’s results were disappointing, the liquor division had done well to strategically capture its share of the market through its model of convenience. “Tops have been accessible to consumers,” he said. “Tops’s stores have taken a huge market share from independent operators, who have struggled under the tight financial environment.” However, portfolio manager at Gryphon Asset Management Casparus Treurnicht said if the liquor division was stripped out, Spar underperformed rivals Pick n Pay and Shoprite by a substantial margin. The Spar Group’s overall revenue gr...
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