Company news in brief

Shoprite reports solid sales growth

Shoprite, Africa's largest grocer, reported that sales rose almost 14% to about R121 billion in its half-year to end-December.

Record Black Friday and festive season trade extended its period of uninterrupted market share gains by its core South African business to 58 months.

Like-for-like sales growth in this part of the business was 6.3%, amid selling price inflation of 7.7%, while the group's furniture business grew sales only 0.7% on a like-for-like basis.

Analysts described the results as very strong, particularly a sales surge of more than 63% for its delivery platform. – Fin24



Pepkor gains market share

Pepkor, South Africa's biggest retailer by store footprint, said it continued to gain market share in the three months to end-December, when sales grew by 7.2% to R26 billion.

"The group's discount and value brands continue to resonate with customers, delivering healthy sales growth from a solid base in the comparable quarter last year," the group said, adding that it did feel some pressure from consumer strain and chaotic ports.

The company added that its merchandise and logistics teams have been proactive in addressing delays and implementing solutions to expedite and advance stock inflows. – Fin24



Growthpoint in milestone agreement

South Africa's largest listed landlord, Growthpoint Properties, announced that it has entered into a "milestone" Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Etana Energy that will represent 32% of its total current annual electricity consumption.

Through this agreement, Etana will cover 70% of the power consumed by Growthpoint's participating buildings, and in some buildings, Growthpoint will even be able to provide its tenants with the ability to purchase 100% renewable energy.

The wheeled renewable energy will mainly consist of wind, with a smaller component of hydro and large-scale solar electricity, it said.

Etana provides cost-competitive clean energy access from new large-scale renewable energy projects connecting to the South African grid. It has partnered with independent power producers on multiple ready-to-build wind, hydro, and solar projects with secured grid connections, which will come online over the course of 2025 and 2026.

Growthpoint had a portfolio worth R64 billion as of its 2023 year, and is the co-owner of the V&A Waterfront. – Fin24



WeBuyCars heading to JSE

Transaction Capital announced that its board had "in principle" resolved to proceed with the unbundling and separate listing of vehicle trader WeBuyCars.

The embattled company had announced in December it was considering this, given it would help reduce its enormous debt pile.

Transaction Capital owns about 74.2% of WeBuyCars and says the separate listing of the second-hand car retailer would also help it reach its growth potential.

The company said on Tuesday that the method of the unbundling wasn't yet determined, and its board has established an independent committee. The announcement was made after the JSE closed and the group, valued at R5.8 billion on the JSE, has lost 78% of its value in the past year. – Fin24



MiX Telematics in new form

Fleet management group MiX Telematics said it could list on the JSE in its new form, PowerFleet, on 26 March.

The group released a circular on Tuesday, with shareholders set to meet on 28 February to vote on a plan, first announced in 2023, that would see MiX merge with Nasdaq-listed peer PowerFleet.

MiX, valued at R4.2 billion, would delist, but the new entity would have a secondary inward listing on the JSE.

MiX said both it and PowerFleet were listed on public exchanges in order to access capital, but both have remained "sub-scale" and have not been able to consistently attract it. – Fin24