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Johannesburg - Sales at clothing retailer Foschini Group have fallen over the key festive season.
The group, which owns brands like TotalSports, Miladys and jeweller American Swiss, said sales at stores open for longer than a year (known as same-store sales) for the three months to end-December 2008 rose by 2.7%. With average merchandise inflation of 7.5%, this means sales contracted by 4.8% in real (non-inflationary) terms.
In a statement released on Friday morning, the group said sales for the key December trade period were "above expectations", and reported sales growth of 9.9% for the month when compared to the same month in 2007, while same-store sales rose by 3.3%.
In October, Foschini said it expected the retail environment to be difficult for the remainder of the year as consumers had to contend with high interest rates and high inflation.
Foschini said its retail debtors' book "reflected positive collections" with net bad debts as a percentage of debtors' book at similar levels to those for the six months to end-September.
South Africa's retail sector entered into recession in October last year as consumers felt the pressure of eight consecutive increases in the prime-lending rate, which increased the cost of servicing debt.
This, coupled with high petrol and food prices, diminished disposable incomes.
Trading updates from other clothing retailers have shown that consumers have sought value by buying from Mr Price stores, or have become more discerning and insisted on paying for quality, but doing so less frequently.
"With less cash to spend on discretionary items, consumers are more picky with what they spend it on, and Truworths calls fashions correctly," Coronation Fund Managers portfolio manager Quinton Ivan told Fin24.com.
On Thursday, Truworths reported that group sales rose by 9% to R3.4m for the 26 weeks to December 28 compared to the 27 weeks to December 30 2007. Earnings for the period are expected to be between 12% and 17% higher than the same period in 2007.
Mr Price on Wednesday reported a 20.3% increase in sales in the three months to end-December. Comparable sales, which include sales of expanded and relocated stores in like-for-like locations, grew by 15.3%
Clothing and food retailer Woolworths has yet to report on December performance.
- Fin24.com