Shoprite lifts trading profit 8.4% to R16.162 billion in financial year
Key Facts
Shoprite said on 1 September 2026 that trading profit from continuing operations rose 8.4% to R16.162 billion in the financial year, compared with R14.910 billion a year earlier. Headline diluted EPS from continuing operations was 1,527.4 cents, up 12.2% from the restated 2025 base of 1,361.0 cents. The results put profit and EPS growth at the forefront of the group’s annual performance. The description of profit as coming from continuing operations reflects the business scope used for the comparison. The company also declared a final dividend of 566 cents per share, taking total dividends for the year to 873 cents per share.
South Africa’s supermarkets segment accounted for 84.5% of group sales during the financial year, with sales rising 7.1% and adding R15.2 billion to the prior-year base. The company said internal selling-price inflation in the segment averaged 0.8%. That was below South Africa’s official food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation rate, which was 3.9% during the year. The gap highlights the difference between the pace of price increases within the segment and the official rate for food and beverages. The company said merchandise sales grew amid this low internal inflation.
In digital sales, Shoprite’s on-demand delivery platform sales rose 34.5% to R25.5 billion in the financial year. The company said the platform generated a record R6.6 billion in incremental sales during the year. That growth places the platform among the drivers of sales expansion, alongside the supermarkets segment, which represents the largest share of group sales. The figures provide a measure of the delivery business’s contribution to the period’s results. The results did not include a comparison of platform sales with the prior year in these figures.
In an earlier trading update in August, Shoprite forecast headline EPS from continuing operations would rise between 9.7% and 14.7%, to a range of R14.98–R15.66 per share. The company based that update on the restated 2025 figure of R13.65 per share. The subsequently published annual results showed a 12.2% increase in headline diluted EPS, from a restated comparison base of 1,361.0 cents. This comparison provides context for the range the company announced before the financial-year results. The August update did not give a separate share-price result at the time the annual results were announced.
After the August sales and earnings forecast update, Shoprite shares rose 5.19% at 08:36 GMT on 12 August, Reuters reported. That was a move recorded after the earlier trading update, not when the annual results were published in September. After the financial year ended, the company announced its acquisition of Vida e Caffè coffee shop chain and a majority stake in R&A Cellular. Reuters valued the two deals at about R1 billion in total. The company also declared a final dividend of 566 cents per share, payable on 28 September 2026.