The South African supermarket chain, Shoprite Holdings Limited, has announced on Monday that it will close all its stores in Nigeria, citing amongst others, the devastating effect of the coronavirus pandemic on its operations and profitability.
The group which trades in Nigeria under the name Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited, in a statement, said:
“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 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.”
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The South African retailer has been struggling in Nigeria in recent years owing largely to increased competition and government policies such as border closures and local production of consumables. The company had in H2 2019 lost 8.1% of its sales which was related to the September 2019 xenophobic attacks in South Africa where many Nigerians and other African nationals were killed by angry South Africans.
Meanwhile, Shoprite is not the only South African company that has made plan to exit from Nigeria. Mr. Price, another South African company had also announced that it will leave the country to focus on South African market and had already closed 4 out of its 5 retail outlets in Nigeria.
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