Staff Writer
Pepkor Holdings reported a 9.8% increase in group sales for the 10 months ended 31 July 2026, with sales excluding acquisitions rising 5.2% as the retailer gained market share in a subdued Southern African consumer environment.
On a two-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) basis, sales excluding acquisitions increased 7.1%, while like-for-like sales rose 3.1%, with a two-year CAGR of 4.9%.
Pepkor said the Southern African consumer environment remained subdued, with Retailers Liaison Committee data indicating that sales were moving outside the RLC network and that customers were allocating a smaller share of their spending to clothing, footwear, home and beauty products.
Promotional activity also remained elevated across the market.
Despite these conditions, Pepkor said it outperformed the market and gained market share based on July 2026 RLC data, adjusted for acquisitions and brand closures.
Performance was led by PEP, the group’s discount retailer. Ackermans was affected by negative growth in lay-bys and low levels of recommended selling price inflation.
Pepkor said a number of merchandise initiatives had been implemented to improve product execution at Ackermans.
Speciality performed well relative to the market, while the newly acquired Legit business exceeded expectations.
The home furnishings and consumer electronics market remained challenging, although Pepkor’s Lifestyle business delivered a resilient performance, including the non-South African component of the newly acquired OK Furniture business.
Avenida continued to record strong trading momentum, while PEP Africa also performed well. The group’s online sales increased 38.9%, including an 81.9% increase in the CGM segment.
The +more customer value platform had more than 18 million members by the end of July, strengthening Pepkor’s digital customer reach.
Pepkor expanded its retail footprint to 6677 stores during the period, with 195 new stores opened and a further 541 stores added through acquisitions.
In financial services, FoneYam’s active cellular device rental customers increased 14.7% to 2.6 million during the period.
Pepkor said customer take-up of a second FoneYam rental after completing the first continued to exceed expectations, extending the customer lifetime value of the product by an additional 18 months.
Abacus Insurance continued to expand embedded and bundled insurance offerings across Pepkor’s brands.
Pepkor said credit extension through Capfin had been curtailed, with plans to reduce the Capfin loan book and focus future credit growth through PlusB, its banking proposition.
PlusB is expected to launch in the second half of the 2027 financial year, subject to regulatory approvals. The total build cost remains on track to be below R1 billion.
Pepkor’s Flash business increased total throughput by 19% to R58.4 billion, driven by growth in aggregation and voucher sales.
The group also said its previously announced transaction to merge Flash and Shop2Shop into FintechCo would expand its participation in the informal market and diversify its earnings.
The combined business is expected to create a fintech platform serving traders across the informal market, with annual throughput of more than R200 billion.
