Foschini Group (TFG) grew sales 8.4% in the third quarter of its 2025 financial year, significantly ahead of the 2% contraction in the first half, after improved trading over Black Friday and the Christmas period in the TFG Africa division.

The South Africa-based retailer with stores in the UK and Australia said in a trading update on Friday that for the nine months to December 28 (YTD), sales increased by 1.6% compared with the prior nine-month period, with gross profit up by 5.7%.

With a modest economic recovery predicted for South Africa, TFG Africa’s sales however grew stronger by 14.6% in the three weeks to January 18, 2025.

TFG Africa also plans to expand its store footprint by opening more than 100 new stores in the 2026 financial year, whilst the store portfolio continues to be rationalised to enhance return on capital employed.

Group online sales, driven by the Bash e-commerce platform, grew 47.2% in the third quarter, by 49.3% in TFG Africa, and by 20.8% YTD. Online sales contributed 11.3% to total retail sales.

“Bash also achieved strong market share gains in December 2024 against a backdrop of declining market shares for some of the pure-play retailers,” TFG’s directors said in the update.

The group said market share gains continued at Menswear and Womenswear in TFG Africa - according to the Retail Liaison Committee, market share increased to 19.8% for the third quarter compared to 19.2% for the third quarter of 2024, with market share maintained in Kidswear.

The gross margin for TFG Africa increased 210 basis points YTD. TFG London sales, excluding White Stuff, which was acquired from Octobe 25, 2024, contracted 0.1% in the third quarter, an improvement from the 8.7% contraction in the first half.

Sales growth at TFG Africa in the third quarter generated 71.6% of group revenue and was led by beauty product sales (19%), jewellery (8.6%), clothing (5.3%), homeware (5.5%), while cellphone sales revenue contracted by 2.6%.

TFG Africa’s turnover increased 5.3% in the quarter versus the same time a year ago, and by 2.2% YTD. Like-for-like sales for TFG Africa grew by 4.6% in the third quarter.

TFG London’s third quarter turnover increased 45.5% versus the same quarter a year ago and by 7.2% YTD. TFG London generated 14.5% of group sales.

TFG Australia’s quarterly revenue fell 3% over the same time a year before and decreased by 5.2% YTD. It made up 13.7% of group revenue.

Directors said TFG Australia continued to face tough trading conditions but showed improvement in its performance in the third quarter. A focus on inventory management helped an improvement in gross margin by 80 basis points YTD.

The UK economy remained under pressure, but management was “encouraged” by the performance of White Stuff and its positive impact on the business. TFG London sales for the three weeks to January 18 grew 63.3% (in GBP) including White Stuff, and by 1.9% excluding White Stuff.

In Australia, sales to end January 18 grew 3.0% (in AUD) and while challenging trading conditions remained, the economy appeared to be stabilising with interest rate reductions expected soon.

BUSINESS REPORT