Johannesburg - Nigeria has the potential to become as big a retail market for
Shoprite Holdings [JSE:SHP] as its home base, the head of the supermarket chain said on Tuesday, playing down concerns of rising poverty in Africa's most populous country.
"Several cities in Nigeria have populations of more than 8 million people. I can't say all of them have the same spending power, but Nigeria can support the same number of supermarkets as South Africa," Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson told Reuters in an interview.
"Even if you have 60% of the population living in poverty, 40% of the Nigerian population is still bigger than the South African population."
Shoprite, which reported a 19% rise in first-half earnings on Tuesday, runs about 950 supermarkets with 729 of those in South Africa and two stores in Nigeria.
It plans to open 12 more stores outside of South Africa by the end of June, including in the Nigerian cities of Illorin and Abuja. It also plans to enter the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Retailers are increasingly targeting Nigeria, given its population and potential for growth. The country is home to nearly 160 million people, compared to South Africa's 50 million, according to World Bank estimates.
But Nigeria still has plenty of hurdles to overcome. Poverty is still rising despite strong economic growth, data showed this month. Nearly 61% of the population, or about 100 million people, live on less than $1 a day.
US retailer Walmart Stores last year bought a majority stake in South African retailer
Massmart Holdings [JSE:MSM], citing growth prospects on the continent.
Higher earningsCape Town-based Shoprite reported an 18.6% rise in first-half headline earnings per share to 280.8 cents, helped by higher prices, a favourable exchange rate and above-inflation wage increases for consumers in its main South African market.
Consumer spending is improving in South Africa due to decades-low interest rates and above-inflation wage hikes, but the outlook is uncertain due to high debt levels and unemployment.
South African retail sales jumped 8.7% year-on-year in December, beating the 6.5% growth economists had expected.
Shoprite, seen likely to lose the most from discounter Walmart's entry into the country, has been on an aggressive expansion drive in Africa.
Walmart unit Massmart is due to report its first-half results on Wednesday.
Shoprite said sales increased 13.2% to R41bn after increasing prices by an average of 4.6% and gaining nearly R30m from favourable currency swings.