Shoprite says Plan to Sell Off its Business in Nigeria is “Near Completion”

Africa’s retail giant, Shoprite Holdings Limited, is going ahead with the plan to sell a 100 percent equity stake in its Nigeria operations, as reflected in the company’s recently-released financial report for December 2020 operations

The company had announced in August 2020 that it would wind down its operations in Nigeria due to unfavourable market conditions.

“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, RSNL may be classified as a discontinued operation when Shoprite reports its results for the year,” the company had said in a statement released last year.

In the latest publication, obtained from the company’s website, its Nigeria subsidiaries were classified as “discontinued operations.” Although Shoprite said the business was profitable for the 2020 operational year, the plan to exit Nigeria is still being finalised.

“Statement of comprehensive income reflects profit from discontinued operations separately; assets and liabilities relating to the Nigeria operations disclosed as held for sale,” the report said. It was also disclosed that the “Nigeria sale (is) near completion”

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The report says the exchange rate crisis between the US dollar and the Naira caused Shoprite a loss of -7.9 percent in 2020 compared to the exchange rate in 2019.

Similarly, according to the company, the process of closing down its Kenya outlets is in top gear and is expected to be completed in June 2021.

Shoprite, however, assured that it will continue to operate in Angola, Zambia and Mozambique – as it hopes to “de-dollarise costs where possible” while “increasing local procurement” across its retail outlets.