Mr Price Group delivered a solid performance in its latest reporting period, underpinned by stronger sales momentum and steady profit growth.
According to the group’s annual results for the 52 weeks ended 28 March 2026, the retailer’s revenue increased to R42.7 billion while operating profit rose 4.3% to R6.0 billion, reflecting resilient demand across its stores and continued gains against broader retail industry trends.
On average, the group generated about R16.4 million a day in operating profit, underscoring the scale and consistency of its core earnings power despite a competitive and cost-pressured trading environment.
Mr Price performance
“The group’s earnings in financial year 2026 were impacted by the expensing of all once-off transaction-related costs relating to the acquisition of Pegasus Group Holding GmbH which trades as the retail business of NKD Group GmbH (NKD), which became effective post year-end,” noted the retailer on Friday.
Group CEO, Mark Blair, said: “I am very proud of how our team has responded to the volatility experienced this year. The agility of our operating model and the strength of our value retailing DNA have enabled operating leverage in a challenging retail environment.
“We are confident in our ability to perform across economic cycles while continuing to deliver value to our customers.”
Mr Price gives back to shareholders
The results revealed that shareholders are earning slightly more per share, with stronger growth driven by underlying business performance rather than by the final reported accounting figures.
“Basic, headline and diluted headline earnings per share increased by 8.0%, 7.7% and 8.0%, respectively, on a normalised basis,” read the results.
“Basic, headline and diluted headline earnings per share of 1 449.5 cents, 1 453.9 cents and 1 411.8 cents, increased by 2.3%, 2.1% and 2.4%, respectively, on a statutory basis.”
Nearly 200 stores opened
Mr Price’s financial results showed that other revenue decreased by 1.9% to R1.3 billion due to lower interest rates impacting debtors’ interest during the period.
Group store sales increased by 4.4%, and online sales by 4.9%. “Customers continued to utilise the group’s omni-channel shopping offering with more than 55% of online orders being collected in store,” said the group. “Group unit sales increased by 0.5% with retail selling price (RSP) inflation of 3.8%.”
Mr Price opened 196 new stores across its 15 trading chains, increasing its total store footprint to 3 182 stores. Trading space increased by 3.6% on a weighted average basis.
New store returns remain healthy, and with South African customers continuing to favour in-store shopping, this channel remains a high-yielding avenue for capital deployment.
More accounts opened
According to the results, more people opened accounts with the group, leading to an increase in credit sales.
“Cash sales constituted 89.4% of group retail sales and increased 4.4%. Credit sales grew by 3.5%, supported by an 11.0% increase in new accounts approved,” said the retailer.
Consumers remained cautious in their credit utilisation as debt servicing levels remained high and in anticipation of an inflexion in the interest rate, which has now materialised following the 25bps increase at the end of May 2026.
“The group will continue to manage its credit book conservatively.”
Recovery in household spending
The retailer said its performance suggests that household disposable income showed early signs of recovery in 2025, indicating that consumers had slightly more financial breathing room than in previous periods.
However, external research suggests that this improvement did not immediately translate into stronger demand within the discretionary retail sector, which typically relies on non-essential consumer spending.
As previously reported, the group also faced a particularly strong comparative base in the second half of the financial year, with retail sales having grown by 9.9% in the prior period.
This elevated base was largely supported by increased consumer spending following withdrawals linked to the introduction of South Africa’s two-pot retirement system, which temporarily boosted retail activity and made year-on-year comparisons more challenging.
