TRADING UPDATE
Shoprite falls 17% as market reacts to profit warning
The grocery chain's share price fell to R148.83 on Wednesday morning as the market reacted to the warning its interim HEPS will fall by up to 36%
Shoprite's share price fell 16.6% to R148.83 on Wednesday morning when the market reacted to a trading update it released at 5.30pm on Tuesday. Just two years after taking over as CEO of Africa’s biggest grocer from long-serving Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson, Pieter Engelbrecht looks set to announce what one analyst described as the group’s worst-ever results, with profits for the six months ended-December expected to be down as much as 36%. In a trading update released late on Tuesday, Shoprite warned shareholders that the group’s operations had been hit by a long list of negative factors, including low food inflation, temporary stock shortages, currency devaluations, lower gross margins and inflexible expense increases. Basson led the company from 1979 when it comprised just eight stores, expanding its footprint into major economies on the African continent. The group now has more than 2,840 stores in 14 countries. Engelbrecht, who had worked closely with Basson for several years, to...
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