South Africa’s Shoprite Hits Profit Estimates

South African grocer Shoprite Holdings, Africa’s biggest retailer, met its profit estimates with a 10.8 percent rise in full-year earnings on Tuesday as it stole market share in its food business from rivals.

Shoprite said diluted headline earnings per share totaled 772.9 cents in the year ended June, in line with the 773 cents estimate by Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimates.

Headline EPS is the most widely watched profit gauge in South Africa which strips out certain one-off items. Its shares rose 1.54 percent to 160.49 rand by 705 GMT.

Retailers in Africa’s most advanced economy have suffered from an electricity shortage that has forced many stores to fork out for back-up generators.

They in turn are struggling to pass those costs along to highly indebted consumers. Shoprite said it had managed to increase sales by 11.2 percent to 113.7 billion rand ($8.80 billion) thanks to 170 new stores and taking market share in food sales from its competitors.