Behind Spar’s failure to launch
It was once punted as an imminent hit for investors, but Spar’s inability to fix its overseas businesses quickly has hurt it. And since it cut its dividend by 50% last month, its share price has shed 14%. But, analysts say, this was the lesser of all evils
10 March 2022 - 05:00
There may be a friendly Spar wherever you are, but there aren’t many happy investors in the supermarket group right now. To see why this is so, consider a cautionary tale, barely eight years old, of another retailer gone wrong.
Back in 2014, Woolworths CEO Ian Moir told shareholders that for R21.4bn, the board would "create a leading southern hemisphere retailer" and "become one of the top-10 global department store operators". All shareholders had to do was give their stamp of approval to the purchase of David Jones, an iconic Australian clothing retailer...
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