Local retailer Choppies now has more stores in South Africa than in its home country – Botswana.
The latest financial statement of the retailer, which has dual listing at Botswana Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) shows that its has increased its South African stores to 88 while those in Botswana stand at 85.
Choppies SA acquired 8 new stores KZN region effective in November 2017, a move that is expected to benefit the group in terms of enhanced scale and efficiencies.
At the same time, the company financials also shows that it is nearly selling as much merchandise in both Botswana and South Africa.
Meanwhile about 2,000 members of the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) working at the Choppies supermarkets in five provinces in South Africa last week embarked on a legal national strike action in pursuit of wage demands for the bargaining period of the 2018/19 financial year.
The General Secretary Katishi Masemola said FROM South Africa that following two sessions of attempted dispute resolution at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, a certificate of non-resolution was issued and FAWU then dispatched a 48-hour notice to the company on Friday, 20 April 2018 notifying management of its intention to engage in industrial action.
In Botswana, the company is said to have dismissed atleast 18 employees from its Westgate Mall super store who were recently engaged in a wage demonstration classified by the company as “unlawful”.
Meanwhile the company’s half-year financial results which were released this week show a 19 percent rise in profits, buoyed by an improved performance at its South African operations.
The fast food and groceries retailer, with operations in seven African countries, posted headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months to December 2017, of 5.36 thebe (cents) compared with 4.52 thebe for the same period a year ago. HEPS is the main profit measured used which strips out certain once-off items.
