Pick n Pay's turnover for the year is around R82 billion

The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviews Richard Brasher CEO at Pick n Pay on its growth.

Despite retailers struggling, Pick n Pay have grown 7% in the past year. This was partly due to cutting costs, laying off 10% of its work force and an increase in sales.

Richard Brasher CEO at Pick n Pay says that they are very positive for 2018. He says that from a customer point of view, people want good deals and Pick n Pay was able to provide it for them.

If you are prepared to trade, there is trade to be had out there. But you've got to have the best prices.

Richard Brasher, CEO at Pick n Pay

Pick n Pay have also seen a massive turn around in terms of inflation. For Brasher this is also great for customers.

I think it's a long time that South Africans have seen sort of a flat inflation figures in some of the food retailers. This is good for customers, tough for retailers.

Richard Brasher, CEO at Pick n Pay

I think it's better that way around, because in our quarter 4 result we managed 4.7% like for like volume increase. And that is always a good barometer for a healthy business.

Richard Brasher, CEO at Pick n Pay

Brasher says even though these margins seem small to the laymen, but where they benefit is volume.

Our margins are around 2.5, so we have to stay close to the paper clips and the photocopier costs. But what we do get is obviously the benefit from volume. Our turnover for the year was some R82 billion.

Richard Brasher, CEO at Pick n Pay

So we turnover a lot, we employ a lot of people, we've got a lot of costs and we make a modest profit. But I am pleased that our underlying profit this year was 19.3 % and that bodes well for us to be able to invest in the business in the coming year.

Richard Brasher, CEO at Pick n Pay

For more detail; listen to the interview in the audio below.

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