JSE winners and losers

SURPRISE: CHOPPIES BEATS BIG MINERS TO RECORD STEEPEST PRICE RISE

- Adriaan Kruger

It would be fairly safe to assume that very few investors - if any - expected that Botswana retailer Choppies Enterprises would be the best-performing share on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 2025.

An increase of nearly 900% in the share price from 80 cents in January to almost R8 on the last trading day of the year was unbeatable.

The share had doubled from 80 cents in January to R1.60 by June, then started to run hard after the publication of the group's results for the year to June 2025 in the last week of September.

By November the share price had doubled again and a few weeks later it did so again.

The annual results alone do not explain the share's sharp rise.

Things seem to be running relatively smooth at the chain of 287 stores operating in Botswana, Zambia and Namibia, but the group posted a 23% drop in profit in its financial year to June 2025.

The statistics suggest that Choppies is unlikely to be on the list of the best shares at the end of 2026. The increase in the share price places it on a price-to-earnings ratio of 62 times and the share currently trades at a price-to-net-asset-value of 31 times. The relatively small retail chain is valued at R14.5 billion.

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