South Africa’s grocery retail giant, ShopRite, has debunked the widespread news of its move to stop operations in Nigeria.
It was earlier reported that ShopRite Holdings Limited had made an announcement to leave Nigeria in its operational and voluntary trading update for the year ended on June 28, 2020. The news comes months after another South African business, Mr Price, exited the Nigerian Market.
Report claimed ShopRite took the decision to discontinue its Nigeria operation after 15 years, “following approaches from various potential investors, and in line with our re-evaluation of the group’s operating model in Nigeria.”
“The Board has decided to initiate a formal process to consider the potential sale of all, or a majority stake, in Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Shoprite International Limited. As such, Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited may be classified as a discontinued operation when Shoprite reports its results for the year. Any further updates will be provided to the market at the appropriate time,” the report stated.
It was stated that the company might be thriving in its home base of South Africa but the same can’t be said for other countries including Nigeria. According to reports, its sales outside South Africa has declined by 1.4 per cent in the year under review. The company claimed the decline was as a result of the impact of the lockdown order in several African countries due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, in a new development, the Country Director for Chastex Consult, Ini Archibong, in a telephone conversation with Vanguard, said: “ShopRite is not leaving Nigeria. We have only just opened to Nigerian investors which we have also been talking to just before now. We are not leaving, who leaves over a $30billion invest and close shop? It doesn’t sound right.
“We only just given this opportunity to Nigeria investors to come in and also help drive our expansion plan in Nigeria. So we are not leaving. “I have tried to say this as too many people as I can. There should be no panic at all and all of that. There is no truth in that report.”
Stay glued to Smartpreneur for updates.
