South African retailer Pick n Pay said today (29 September) that it expects half-year profit to fall by as much as 25%, due to the sale of its Australian division as well as high competition and lower inflationary environment in South Africa.
The company is forecasting headline earnings per share to fall between 10 to 35%,
Excluding results from its discontinued operations, including Franklins and its Score Supermarkets, headline earnings per share are still expected to fall as much as 15%.
The AU$215m (US$203.9m) sale of the Franklins operations to local operator Metcash has been pushed back to November pending an investigation by the country’s competition watchdog.
Shares in the company were down 0.5% on the previous day at SAST16:16 to ZAR1,785 a share.
