Mr Price FY diluted HEPS up 21% to 865.1c

A final dividend of 368.5c was declared‚ bringing the total dividend to 580c‚ up 20.3% from the year-earlier period.

Total revenue grew by 13.9% to R18.1bn and retail sales increased by 13.5% to R17.3bn. Cash sales grew by 14.9%‚ ahead of credit sales of 7.5%‚ and constituted 81.9% of total sales.

The opening of 76 new stores and the closing of five resulted in weighted average trading space increasing by 5.1% and the group operating 1‚150 corporate-owned and 15 franchise stores.

"While we have identified opportunities for improvement‚ we are very satisfied with the results achieved in an environment in which the economy and consumers are struggling‚" CEO Stuart Bird said.

Sales to customers outside SA‚ including the acquired Zambian franchise operations‚ grew by 24.8% to R1.5bn. Trading in Nigeria and Ghana in the second half was "challenging" as a result of the countries' weakening currencies and increasing inflation. But all territories contributed positively to group earnings and were considered good long-term prospects‚ the company said.

Source: BDpro via I-Net Bridge