The revenue of the Pepkor group for continuing operations increased by 7.6 % to 20.9 billion. This is according to the latest trade update released by Pepkor Holdings Limited for this quarter which ended on 31 December 2019.
General Overview
According to the Trading Update, the shift in “back-to-school” allowed the trading in January 2020 to become relatively stronger in most of the brands. Pepkor continues to perform well in the retail market, highlighting the successful proposition of customer value and focusing on providing value to customers.
The Trading Update also stated that “The current macro-economic and employment landscape is not expected to improve in the near future. Pepkor, however, remains positive and focused on the execution of its strategy to provide value to customers, market share expansion and enhancing efficiencies in the respective divisions.”
Clothing and general merchandise
For the quarter, the clothing and general merchandise department reported total revenue growth of 5%.
According to Pepkor’s Trading Update, the Pep and Ackermans stores combined have reported “sales growth of 6.4% and like-for-like sales growth of 3.2%.” The sales performance was negatively affected by the fact that the schools started later this year. This resulted in the “back-to-school” trade from December 2019 to January 2020 to be shifted. It was confirmed that during the first three weeks of January 2020 the sales grew to double-digits.
It also stated that, due to the fluctuation in exchange rates, the retail selling price inflation in core clothing, footwear, and homeware product categories increased by 9.1%. However, even with the inflation, Pep and Ackermans still managed to remain the “price leaders in the discount and value markets.”
