Truworths shares plunge 4% as the retail treads water

Truworths has reported lacklustre results for its 2026 financial year, with a below-1% decrease in sales and a 2.6% decline in headline earnings.

This comes as the retailer has struggled to gain momentum over the past five financial years, with its profit now below its FY2022 level.

Truworths released its results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026 on Thursday, 27 August. The retailer’s share price fell by 4.29% on Thursday following the release of the results.

These results showed that the retailer’s retail sales declined by 0.9% to R21.8 billion, while its sale of merchandise grew by 0.1% to R21.3 billion.

The group attributed this to lower-than-expected revenue from the United Kingdom due to the rand strengthening against the British pound over the 52-week period.

Truworths’ Office UK division recorded retail sales of R7.26 billion, up 4.9% compared to 2025, and contributing 35.6% of group sales.

The retailer’s Africa division also came under pressure, this time due to lower sales driven by a decline in consumers’ ability to buy on credit. 

This segment is highly credit-dependent, meaning pressure on consumers’ disposable incomes directly impacts its active credit customers.

Truworths’ active account holders who were able to purchase on credit fell to 77%, down from 78% in 2025 and 79% in 2024.

Truworths Africa reported retail sales of R14.2 billion, down 2.1% year-on-year.

For all of these reasons, Truworths’ basic earnings per share declined by 2.76% to 724.6 cents, while headline earnings per share declined by 2.65% to 732.2 cents.

The retailer’s profit for the period fell by 4.72% to R2.66 billion, which is lower than it was five years ago at R3.05 billion.

While these results are not terrible, Truworths is also not shooting the lights out, which appears to have become the retailer’s status quo over the past few years.

Like many of its apparel retail competitors, Truworths has felt the pain of South Africa’s depressed consumer environment, which has left the retailer to tread water until consumer spending recovers.

The graphs below show the changes in Truworths’ results over the past five years.

Truworths results FY22 to FY26