The Management of ShopRite Nigeria has cleared the air on the story making the rounds on the media that it intends to close shop in Nigeria.
The Country Director for Chastex Consult, Ini Archibong, in a telephone conversation, stated, “Shoprite is not leaving Nigeria.”
“We have only opened to Nigerian investors, who we have been talking to before now. We are not leaving! Who leaves over a $30billion investment and closes shop? It doesn’t sound right”.
“We have only given this opportunity to Nigeria investors to come in and help drive our expansion plan in Nigeria. So we are not leaving”.
Recall that reports have been circulating in the media that the retail outlet has started a formal process to consider the potential sale of all or a major stake of its supermarkets in Nigeria.
The report also stated that ShopRite had struggled in the Nigerian market after some South African owned retailer shops exited the Nigerian market.
The report also said that international markets, excluding Nigeria, contributed 11.6 percent to the group sales and reported a 1.4 percent decline in sales from 2018.
The report further stated that ShopRite’s results for the year do not reflect any of their operations in Nigeria as it will be classified as a discontinued operation.
South African operations contributed 78 percent of the overall sales and saw an 8.7 percent rise for the years.
The report went further to say that as a result of the lockdown, customers’ visits declined 7.4 percent but the average basket spends increased by 18.4 percent.
However, Archibong countered, “I have tried to say this to many people as I can. There should be no panic at all. There is no truth in that report”.
