The first half of the financial year was challenging for the retail sector but improved in the second half, says Mr Price.
Retailer Mr Price’s telecoms segment has reported sales growth in its annual financial results for the 52 weeks ended 29 March, announced today.
According to the retailer, the segment reported another year of market share gains, as the combined retail sales of Mr Price Cellular and Powercell increased by 13.2% to R1.3 billion.
It notes that the segment, which primarily sells handsets and accessories through 562 store-in-store concepts and 61 standalone stores, continues to grow in profitability.
Mr Price says the launch of the group’s private label device, Salt, as well as a high accessories attachment rate of 69%, supported gains in both gross and operating margin.
The segment continues to be a strategic channel to increase customer engagement as it leverages the Mr Price brand halo, the retailer adds.
Group store sales increased 7.8% and online sales 7.9%, reflecting the effectiveness of the group’s omni-channel strategy in meeting its customers’ shopping preferences, Mr Price states.
Meanwhile, Mr Price Group delivered solid performance for its latest financial year, surpassing the R40 billion revenue mark for the first time and achieving strong growth across key financial and operational metrics.
Retail sales grew by 7.8%, accelerating to 9.9% in the second half of the year, with the group gaining an additional 50 basis points in market share, according to Retailers’ Liaison Committee data. It notes that the performance was underpinned by solid consumer demand and the group’s ongoing expansion strategy.
Operating profit reached a record R5.8 billion, up 8.9% year-on-year, with a second-half increase of 11.7%. The group also demonstrated robust cash generation, producing R8.7 billion in operating cash flow and ending the year with a cash balance of R4.1 billion.
Shareholders benefited from strong earnings growth, with diluted headline earnings per share rising 10.1%, and accelerating to 12.1% in the second half.
During the reporting period, the group’s customers continued to prefer to transact with cash, as its cash sales constituted 89.3% of group retail sales and increased 7.9%.
Group CEO Mark Blair says: “The first half of the financial year was challenging for the retail sector but improved in the second half.
“We are very satisfied to have gained similar levels of market share in both periods, reflecting the value we were able to provide our customers despite very different economic conditions. The growth in sales momentum through the second half was supported by strong comparable store sales growth and GP margin gains across all trading segments.”
