Mr Price hits milestone with 3,000 stores despite anaemic economic outlook
Mr Price Home store at Canal Walk, Century City
Image: Ian Landsberg/Independent Newspapers
JSE-listed Mr Price Group demonstrated the resilience of its fashion-value business model, posting a 7.9% increase in total revenue to R40.9 billion for its 2025 financial year.
In its results statement issued on Friday, Mr Price said it reached a milestone of now having just more than 3,000 stores during the full year, as it opened 184 new stores across its 15 trading chains. Weighted average trading space increased 4.3%.
However, Global economic uncertainty has cast a shadow when it comes to growth prospects in 2025, as potential US tariffs threaten markets worldwide, it said. 'The South African economy has not been spared from this impact and its forecast gross domestic product growth has been revised downwards from the previously bullish outlook at the end of 2024,' the group noted.
It added that South African consumers have received some short-term relief through lower inflation, decreasing fuel prices, and interest rate cuts totalling 1 percentage point, all of which contributed to increased disposable income, Mr Price said. It added that, while real wage growth is showing signs of recovery, the sustainability of these improvements remains questionable given both global and domestic economic uncertainties.
Despite these challenges, Mr Price remains focused on its fashion-value merchandise strategy, which continues to resonate with its growing customer base. The retailer maintains its position as South Africa's most shopped clothing store according to MAPS data, reinforcing its commitment to being the "customer's value champion" even in volatile times.
The retailer gained 0.5 percentage points of market share according to Retailers' Liaison Committee data, while expanding its gross margin by 0.80 percentage points to 40.5%.
The group achieved a record operating profit of R5.8bn, with its operating margin increasing 20 basis points to 14.2%. Basic and headline earnings per share grew 11.0% and 10.7% cents respectively.
Its second half performance was particularly strong, with diluted headline earnings per share growing 12.1%, it said. This came despite February's weaker retail performance and the shift of school holidays and Easter from March to April, Mr Price noted.
Mr Price attributed the improved performance to better sales momentum and lower markdowns following a more subdued first half in the retail sector.
Group CEO Mark Blair said that, while the first half presented challenges for retailers, conditions 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," he said.
Blair added that growth in sales momentum through the second half was supported by strong comparable store sales growth and gross profit margin gains across all trading segments.
The board declared a final dividend of 593.5 cents per share, up 12.7%.
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