Mr Price outperforms market with 5.9% December sales growth

MR PRICE Group's 5.9% sales growth in December, the busiest trading period for South African retailers due to the holiday period, was ahead of the market's growth of 3%, the value clothing and homeware retailer said on Wednesday.

- EDWARD WEST

In a sales update for the 13 weeks to December 27, group retail sales increased by 3.6% to R15.1 billion. The directors said during the period, the group had maintained market share and gained further market share in its core market of South Africa,including in December, as its retail sales increased ahead of the market's growth of 1.6% per the Retailers' Liaison Committee (RLC).

"The base effects in the quarter were mainly driven by withdrawals from retirement savings (from) the two-pot retirement system. While interest rates and inflation have declined, the discretionary retail consumer environment throughout most of 2025 remained muted as disposable income growth continued to be absorbed by high household debt servicing costs and the diversionary spend into online betting and other categories," the group's directors said in a statement.

Mr Price's share price fell 0.58% to R170.77 on the JSE Wednesday morning, a price already 33.3% lower than R256.36 a year ago.

Group retail sales for the first 7 weeks of the group's second half had increased 3.3%. Retail sales in October increased 1.8%, ahead of the market's growth of 1.3% (RLC). Sales growth then improved into the first two weeks of November, but slowed in the remaining two weeks of the month, closing with growth of 1.1%, slightly ahead of the market's growth of 1% (RLC).