Massmart, which is owned by US retail giant Walmart and runs the Game, Makro and Dion Wired chains, says moving the head office of two of its divisions from Durban to Johannesburg had a negative effect on its full-year results to end-December. Africa’s second largest retail group said relocating its Massdiscounters and Masscash divisions cost R116.1m, and the disruption to its operations also saw it lose hundreds of millions in earnings. Massmart CEO Guy Hayward said this loss of focus saw its Game chain, which was housed in its Masscash division, lose about R200m in business for the year to end-December. The transition was not easy, as many of its key Durban-based staff had opted not to move to Johannesburg. Hayward said this meant the group had to recruit new people. Even though the move had been detrimental in the short-term, Hayward said, over time it would pay off, as it would save R30m a year. The difficulty in getting talented people was the main reason it moved these divisio...
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