South Africa’s largest furniture brand booming

The Lewis Group’s most recent trading statement predicts a significant earnings jump, and investors have reacted positively.

The Lewis Group is a leading retailer selling furniture, home appliances, electronic goods and homeware through its trading brands Lewis, Best Home and Electric, Beares, Bedzone and UFO. It is South Africa’s largest furniture chain.

The company, which was founded in Cape Town in 1934, has a footprint of 869 stores covering major metropolitan and rural areas in South Africa and neighbouring African countries.

The group employs over 10,000 permanent staff and is committed to promoting socio-economic change through its retail operations and supply chain, being a strong supporter of the local furniture manufacturing sector.

On Monday, 12 May 2025, the Lewis Group released a trading statement, outlining its earnings expectations for the year ended 31 March 2025.

The company said these results reflect a strong trading and operational performance, driven by continued strong growth in credit sales, expanding margins and robust growth in the debtors’ book.

Strong growth in other revenue, which continues to benefit from sustained credit sales growth in recent years, and an expansion in its gross profit margin in the second half of the year have supported its performance.

In addition, the company said the growth in its operating costs was contained below the growth in revenue.

The Lewis Group’s debtor costs have also reduced slightly despite the significant growth in the group’s debtors’ book. 

The quality of the company’s debtors’ portfolio continued to improve in its 2025 financial year, with solid collection rates and a record proportion of satisfactory paid accounts maintained.

All of these factors contributed to substantial growth in the Lewis Group’s profitability, with headline earnings for the period expected to be between 48% and 58% higher than the R500.4 million reported for the 2024 financial year.

The company anticipates earnings for the period to be as follows –

• Earnings per share up between 75% and 85% 
• Headline earnings per share up between 55% and 65%

Investors have reacted very positively to this update, with the company’s share price up 16.42% at around 13:50 on Monday, 12 May 2025.

The Lewis Group’s annual results for its 2025 financial year are expected to be released on SENS on or about 29 May 2025.