Mr Price Cellular is rocking

The Mr Price Group recorded strong telecoms sales growth during the 2024/25 financial year’s third quarter, with retail sales in the telecoms segment increasing by 16.5% year-on-year.

It notes that this represents a two-year compound annual growth rate of 12.7% and that the growth during this period was driven by strong performances over Black Friday and the festive season.

“Comparable store sales increased by 5.3%. Further market share gains were achieved, up 10bps according to GfK,” it added.

Overall, the Mr Price Group recorded retail sales growth of 10.6% to R14.6 billion during the quarter.

“Total store sales increased 10.6% while online sales increased 10.5%. Online sales contributed 1.8% of total retail sales during the period, with a strong growth of 21.9% in December,” Mr Price said in its trading statement.

The retailer says it reached a milestone during the quarter when it opened its 3,000th brick-and-mortar store. It launched 78 new stores during the period, and the group closed the quarter with a footprint of 3,031 stores.

“Trading space increased by 4.9% on a weighted average basis,”

Looking forward, the group’s management remains optimistic about the year ahead, with the retailer being well-positioned to continue its profitable market share gains.

“Performance in the first three weeks of January is encouraging with double-digit retail sales growth and GP margin gains across each of its trading segments,” it said.

The Mr Price Group’s telecoms segment has been performing well in recent years. Its latest financial results revealed that the segment’s profit grew 55% year-on-year, from R85 million for the 2022/23 financial year to R133 million in 2023/24.

However, it is important to note that some of these profit figures are before finance costs and income.

Retail sales in the segment grew by 10.2% to R1.171 billion in 2023/24 from R1.063 billion in 2022/23. The telecoms segment also generated R185 million in other revenue.

This was up from R150 million the year before.

The retailer noted that it expanded its footprint of standalone Mr Price Cellular stores in 2023/24, reaching 804 locations.

“Mr Price Cellular standalone stores continued to perform strongly,” it said.

“Cellular handsets and accessories gained 80 [basis points] of market share according to GfK.”