Business
Africa’s local retail market promise
Many of the continent’s largest retailers are dialing back their expansion plans and looking to make smaller advances closer to home. In a year that saw many African retailers pushing ahead with plans to expand on the back of growing consumer demand, 2013 was tempered by tougher conditions for consumers in the continent’s biggest market, South Africa.
While the honeymoon is not yet over, a degree of reality has certainly appeared in the valuations of retailers listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. As ever, there has been a wide degree of variation in the fortunes of some of the continent’s largest retailers.
The total turnover of retailers in the Top 500 companies – based on year-end 2012 results – was $55.9 billion, up 8.1% from $51.8 billion in the previous year.
This represents 7.6% of the total turnover of the Top 500 companies. The large majority of Africa’s major retailers are headquartered in South Africa: 16 of the 27 retailers in the ranking are based in South Africa, representing 94% of turnover.
Outsider chances
For South Africa’s Pick n Pay (#13), managers are trying to regain the supermarket’s lustre as the family-controlled company fights to win back lost market share and improve its weak margins.
The company took the dramatic step of recruiting an outsider as CEO in February 2013 – it has traditionally appointed leaders from within its own ranks – in the form of Richard Brasher (see profile), who ran Tesco in the United Kingdom.
