CHAMWE KAIRA
Choppies Supermarkets Namibia (Pty) Limited recorded revenue of Botswana Pula (BWP) 613 million (N$805 million) in the financial year ended 30 June 2024, the company announced.
The company is a retailer of fast-moving consumer goods, operating shops around Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Retail sales totaled BWP 612 million, while gross profit totaled BWP 100 million, according to Choppies.
In Namibia, the company has assets worth BWP 271 million and liabilities worth BWP 220 million.
The company disclosed that Choppies Enterprises Limited has issued guarantees for Choppies Supermarkets Namibia (Pty) Limited valued at BWP 36 million.
Choppies Enterprises said in May that it was planning to open seven more shops in Namibia this year.
Currently Choppies has 18 stores and for 2024 it is planning to open another seven stores, mainly focussing on the northern regions of Namibia.
Choppies Enterprises said the group’s retail sales increased by 31.8% to BWP 8 477 million (2023: BWP 6 433 million), driven by one new Choppies store, the acquisition of 108 liquor and hardware stores from Kamoso, the other segments in Kamoso and inflation and volume growth.
Choppies segments saw combined volume growth of 17% despite Zimbabwe experiencing negative volume growth.
Choppies segments achieved 0.2% price growth, mainly due to weaker translation exchange rates. Choppies segment sales volume for like-for-like stores increased by 21.0%.
The gross profit margin declined by 50 basis points to 20.6% (2023: 21.1%), due to lower margins in the Choppies segments due to competitor discounting and the dilutionary impact of the Kamoso acquisition, which has lower margins.
Choppies Botswana, Choppies Zambia and Choppies Zimbabwe experienced lower gross profit rates, while Choppies Namibia’s gross profit rate improved.
The company said the effective tax rate of 20.8% (2023: 9.1%) is higher than last year due to the impairment of Choppies Zimbabwe’s deferred tax asset of BWP 9m (2023: raised P9m deferred tax asset) and Botswana becoming more profitable.
The rate of 20.8% is lower than the standard rate mainly due to the legacy debt receipts from Zimbabwe that are exempt from income tax and the raising of deferred tax on carried forward tax losses in the Choppies Zambia segment.
“We raised a further deferred tax asset of BWP 12 million (2023: BWP 15 million) for Zambia as we are confident that this segment will generate taxable profits in the foreseeable future. The board has declared a final dividend (number 08) of 1.4 thebe per share (2023: Nil),” the company said.
