Mr Price records R1 billion loss in revenue, blames loadshedding

According to its latest financial results, Mr. Price has lost R1 billion (~54 million) in revenue as a result of loadshedding.

South African retail giant Mr. Price cites loadshedding as the major cause of the company’s loss of R1 billion (~$54 million) in revenue, as a result of over 318,000 lost trading hours in the past financial year.

Additionally, the company stated that the indirect impacts of loadshedding such as changing customer shopping behavior and lower levels of consumer confidence, as well as the need to mark down unsold stock, further exacerbated the company’s poor performance in the second half of the year. While revenue for the year through March rose by 17%, Mr. Price reported a 7% drop in net income and its full-year dividend of 7.596 rand per share.

“The potential higher stages of loadshedding throughout winter threaten to extend this disruptive retail cycle. Loadshedding has become a permanent and tiresome obstacle to businesses in South Africa and the cost of doing business has materially increased, stifling economic growth,” the company statement read.

To counter the impact of loadshedding on its operations going forward, Mr. Price stated that it has accelerated its energy continuity roll-out plans and invested R220 million in back-up solutions including inverters and batteries, which will cover all its stores by the end of June.

Mr. Price joins other publicly traded companies including Multichoice, Vodacom, Telkom, and MTN, who have blamed their suboptimal performances on loadshedding.