A WEE DRAM
CHRIS GILMOUR: TFG rides the wave in UK and Australia
The retailer has bucked the trend of SA consumer companies that venture into overseas markets
Realising that pinning its hopes on a moribund SA economy for growth was futile, retailer TFG, which owns the Foschini brand, began expanding into the UK and, more recently, Australia. Both jurisdictions have tended to be graveyards for SA consumer companies, but not so for TFG. Besides its successful geographic strategy, it has also gone for diversification that lessens dependency on any specific merchandise category and in addition has reduced exposure to credit sales. Clothing accounts for over 83% of group turnover, with cellphones accounting for 5.5%, homeware 4.5%, jewellery 4.2% and cosmetics 3.2%. International clothing comprises 37% of total turnover. TFG London and TFG Australia are cash-only operations, while the cash-to-credit ratio in TFG Africa is 55:45. For the interim period to end September 2018, turnover rose 29%, helped by the acquisition of Hobbs in the UK (effective date of acquisition November 2017) and RAG in Australia (effective date July 2017). Headline earn...
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