Scraping home in the six months to September, The Foschini Group (TFG) crossed the line with headline EPS (HEPS) up 5.7% — marginal growth, but for a player in SA’s nosediving clothing retail sector a laudable showing.Coming to TFG’s aid were its UK-based fashion businesses Phase 8 — acquired in January 2015 for £140m — and Whistles — bought three months later for £4.6m. Were it not for these two, which upped combined pre-tax profit R67m (43%) to R222m, TFG’s results would have presented a truly bleak picture. If left to African operations alone, pre-tax profit would have come in R15m (1.2%) down at R1.26bn. This was despite a R129m (18%) jump in interest earned primarily on its credit book.Reported as a single grouping, African operations span 20 brands and consist of 2,341 stores in SA, 100 in Namibia and 85 in six other countries.The African operation’s profit fall was despite what was in a tough market a solid 9.5% rise in sales to R8.86bn and a 2.1% rise in like-for-like store ...
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