Johannesburg - Massmart Holdings [JSE:MSM] advised on Thursday that for the 14 weeks to October 3 2010, total sales increased by 14.9% and comparable sales increased by 9.2%, continuing the trends experienced for most of the second half of the 2010 financial year, specifically strong general merchandise and home improvement trading performances.
"In the short term, we expect the food and African businesses to continue to underperform due to food deflation and the strong rand, respectively, but expect gradual improvement in both of these throughout the coming financial year," it said.
"Acknowledging the concerns and uncertainty permeating the global economy, if current South African economic and trading trends continue for the financial year, Massmart should achieve profit growth, before any foreign exchange translation adjustments, ahead of sales growth for the full year," it said.