Johannesburg — South Africa’s grocery retailer Pick n Pay has reported a significantly reduced loss before tax for the financial year ending March 2, 2025. The company posted a loss of 237 million rand ($13.3 million), a major improvement from the 1.4 billion rand loss recorded the previous year.
The retailer’s core supermarket business trimmed its trading loss by 1 billion rand, narrowing it to 549 million rand. This positive shift comes amid a wider turnaround effort aimed at recovering customers and improving profitability after several years of losing ground to rivals like Shoprite.
CEO Sean Summers, who returned to the helm in October 2023, said the recovery would take several years and acknowledged the difficulties faced so far, but noted signs the company’s challenges are stabilizing. Pick n Pay now expects its core supermarket operations to reach break-even in 2028, a year later than previously forecast.
Group turnover rose by 5.6% to 118.6 billion rand, helped by a 13.2% boost in sales at discount chain Boxer and a 1.9% increase in Pick n Pay stores. The group also closed or converted 40 underperforming supermarkets in South Africa.
To attract shoppers back, Pick n Pay has revamped its product range, focusing on fresh produce and investing in staff training in areas such as butchery and bakery. Capital expenditure for the supermarket business doubled to 1 billion rand this year, primarily for store refurbishments.
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