We start with a full-year trading update from Shoprite, released earlier this week. Unsurprisingly, the Group is on the up and up (and up some more), which for a business of its size remains nothing short of extraordinary. But let’s look at the deets:

• • Headline earnings per share are expected to increase around 20% versus last year (!) HEPS strips out extraordinary items that are not part of a company’s everyday activities, so achieving this sort of growth in profitability in its core business is remarkable.
  • Turnover: Was healthy for all segments with the overall Group achieving +8.9% growth, Supermarkets RSA up +9.5%, Supermarkets Non-RSA +6.4% (in rands).
  • Disposals: Include the furniture business (going to Pepkor) announced earlier this year, but new to the list are the disposal of operations in Malawi (currently with five stores) and Ghana (seven stores + one warehouse). This move follows Shoprite’s exits from other African countries, including Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, and, most recently, the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023
  • Store openings: 194 stores across its banners were opened over the year, as well as 81 LiquorShops, 60 Petshop Science, 8 Checkers Outdoor, 10 UNIQ clothing and 1 Little Me

For Woolworths, releasing results at the same time as Shoprite must, at the very least, cause a few eye rolls, like when Linda went up for her 10th award at our final Matric prizegiving. Starting with the positives, South African operations showed strong growth, with Food outperforming the market thanks to growth in volume and shopper visits (with turnover +9.2%). Fashion, Beauty, and Home also recovered well (+5.1%), helped along with +22.8% growth in FBH online sales. However, the Group was let down by Country Road Group (CRG) in Aus, where a weak performance was attributed to low footfall, discounting, high import costs, and a R917m impairment charge against some of its underperforming brands. As a result, Woolies expects HEPS to be down by as much as 27%. In other Woolies news, The Dapper One has been named among the top three brands most likely to be recommended by South Africans, according to insights agency KLA. Drawing from 12 months of data, the research asked current customers of each brand, “Which brands would you recommend to a friend or colleague?” Over 85% of Woolies shoppers said they would recommend Woolworths Food (88.1% of respondents), Woolworths Clothing (86.7%) or Woolworths Home (85.2%) to their mates, with the top two spots taken by Rand Merchant Bank and Samsung.

Our third trading update this week takes us to the aisles and shelves of Pick n Pay. Just like Boxer last week, PnP’s update also covers the 17 weeks ended 29 June 2025, showing a +4.3% increase in Group turnover (+3.8% in comparable stores), with star segments Boxer (+12.1%), Clothing (+17.3%) and Online (+33%) compensating for the weaker supermarkets portion of the business. Company-owned supers are showing improvement though (+4% in like-for-like sales), and while we’re still a long way off from the growth seen in the other divisions, they are faring better than franchise stores (-1.4%), which is unusual. Does this mean that franchisees are buying more elsewhere and not from Pick n Pay directly? Or perhaps that they are facing stiff sales pressure despite their deep knowledge of the communities they serve? In other Pick n Pay news, Gareth Ackerman, son of the legendary Raymond and Pick n Pay Chairman for the last 15 years, made his farewell speech at the Group AGM this week, where he spoke of FY2025 as a “defining year”, and congratulated Sean Summers on his leadership and progress made since his return to the business. Mr Ackerman then handed over to his successor, James Formby, a former CEO of Rand Merchant Bank and Pick n Pay board member since 2022. Gareth will remain on the Board and continue to serve on various Group committees.

We start our wrap-up of international retailer news in the UK, where Waitrose reports what it is calling a ‘sober summer’ due to sales of no- and low-alcohol drinks growing +32%. The category showing the greatest growth is low and no spirits, up +85%, followed by beer (+50%), cider (+28%) and wine (+21%). “The ‘sober curious’ movement is growing, showing a trend towards well-being-focused drinking that doesn’t compromise on flavour or social connection,” explains Sarah Holland, Waitrose Low and No Buyer. Next, Marks & Spencer has announced that it will be closing its nearly 100-year-old flagship department store in Wolverhampton, after never quite recovering post-COVID. In 2022, M&S announced plans to move away from its traditional department store formats by closing 67 out of its 247 stores and opening 100 food halls by April next year. M&S is working with the city of Wolverhampton to find a suitable location for a new food store. And finally, we jump across the pond to New York, where the New York Association of Grocery Stores (NYAGS), a coalition representing NYC’s grocery landscape, is “vehemently opposing” mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to open government-owned and operated grocery stores. “This initiative threatens the livelihoods of countless mom-and-pop grocery stores and jeopardises the vital food distribution network that New Yorkers rely upon daily,” NYAGS says. Mamdami has proposed five such stores, one for each NY borough, which would bring lower-priced groceries to communities there. The plan has been described by some naysayers as a “Soviet style disaster-in-waiting”, but this model would not be a first for the States where such stores already exist in several rural areas, and plans are to open two in Atlanta later this year.