Spar swings into a R1.7 bn profit, declares dividend of 280c a share
By Siphelele Dludla
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JOHANNEBSURG - SPAR Group yesterday declared an interim gross cash dividend of 280 cents per share out of income reserves after swinging into a R1.7 billion profit for six months ended March 31, 2021.
The multinational grocery chain’s dividend rose from 200c last year as it saw its interim profits climbing by 28.1 percent following strong performances from its operations abroad. This as Spar delivered strong growth, increasing group turnover by 7.5 percent to R64.2bn.
Spar said the turnover in its operations in Switzerland rose by 11.1 percent to 21.6 percent for the six-month period, in spite of the region continuing to experience the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic with ongoing lockdown regulations.
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Listed companies and franchises benefit from stay-at-home trend, even as pandemic restrictions ease. 00:01
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Home is where the action is in the era of Covid. Image: Shutterstock
It looks like people eventually had time to tackle their things-to-do-around-the-house lists when Covid-19 forced the whole of South Africa to stay at home for a few months. Or they noticed that the house is starting to look a bit shabby in places.
This seems like a reasonable conclusion when looking at the figures of listed groups selling DIY products and the sentiments expressed by owners of franchises selling home improvement products.
Image: Moneyweb
In 2013 Spar Group was a formidable Southern African retailer featuring on the list of the regionâs top four, alongside heavyweights Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Woolworths. For the financial year to end September 2013 Spar reported revenue of R47.8 billion and operating profit of R1.6 billion â an impressive 3.3% margin. Shareholders did well, with headline earnings of 694.8c a share underpinning a generous dividend of 485c and supporting a remarkable 4% dividend yield. With virtually no debt this generosity was easy to justify.
Other vital signs reflecting the groupâs strength were the 39.8% return on equity and 51.8% return on net assets. At the end of September 2013 Spar had a market capitalisation of R20.9 billion.
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