South African giant retailer Shoprite has sold its shares in what is described as a rebalancing act by the company.
Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said they have sold R20 million in the company’s shares in the week just before Christmas.
The retail company announced the development in a statement on Wednesday, saying the sale is part of the annual rebalancing of its investment portfolio.
BusinessTech Africa is informed that Engelbrecht’s total pay package was R48.42 million for 2022 including his salary, bonuses, and share incentives.
Meanwhile, this was just over a fifth more than the R39.997 million he received in 2021.
“Shoprite’s share price rose almost 13% this year, close to the record highs last seen in 2018,” reports Fin24.
“The retailer is trading at a price-earnings ratio (an indicator of how expensive its shares are) of above 20 times, somewhat pricier than its peers. The share prices of Pick n Pay (+13%) and Woolworths (+29%) also saw gains this year.
“In its most recent operational update, for the three months to end-September, the group reported sales growth of almost 19%. This was thanks to an 8.2% increase in the prices in its stores.”
In South Africa, Shoprite Holdings reported that it continued to win market share from its competitors such as Pick N Pay and Spar – thus extending the period of uninterrupted market share gains to 43 months.
In a related post, this website also posted that Shoprite has received a go-ahead as it plans to buy Massmart but it comes with a lot of terms and conditions.
The grocery and household products outlet, Shoprite’s proposed plan was approved by the Competition Tribunal as it wants to acquire certain Massmart-owned supermarkets.
The transaction will also include wholesalers and liquor stores and it has come to the attention of BusienssTech Africa that Shoprite initially made an offer to buy 56 grocery stores from Cambridge Food and Rhino Cash and Carry and 43 adjacent liquor stores earlier this year.
Shoprite also planned to purchase 10 wholesale cash and carry stores, 2 wholesale liquor stores, Massfresh and Fruitspot. It made an offer of R1.36 billion to Massmart. The Competition Commission recommended that the Tribunal approve the deal in May.
