Pick n Pay’s crown jewel shooting the lights out

Discount retailer Boxer has delivered another set of solid interim results for the first half of its 2026 financial year, marked by strong turnover and profit growth.

While the retailer recorded a decline in earnings, this was due to an increase in its number of shares following Boxer’s JSE listing in November 2024.

On Monday, 13 October, Boxer released its results for the 26 weeks ended August 2025, which revealed a strong operational and financial performance.

The retailer saw its revenue grow by 13.76% to R22.75 billion, while turnover increased by 13.88% to R22.52 billion.

Boxer recorded internal selling price inflation of -0.7%, measured on a volume-held-constant basis. This represents a further softening compared to the 0.3% reported for Boxer’s 2025 financial year. 

“Boxer is particularly pleased with the positive like-for-like growth achieved in the low inflation environment, which indicates strong like-for-like volume growth,” it said.

The company’s cost of merchandise sold rose by a similar percentage as turnover, 13.78%, to R17.94 billion. This was driven largely by store rollouts in the period.

The retailer’s trading profit rose by 15.08% to R931 million, and its profit for the period increased by 2.24% to R502 million.

Earnings per share decreased by 32.33%, although this was due to a higher number of shares, rather than reflecting the retailer’s operational performance.

The retailer partially attributed its strong performance to its store rollouts, having added 22 stores during the 26-week period. This includes 7 new superstores, 14 liquor stores, and 1 Build store.

This brought Boxer’s estate to 547 stores total. On a 12-month basis, the estate has increased by 58 stores since the first half of Boxer’s 2025 financial year.

After opening these new stores, Boxer said it is on track to achieve its target of opening 60 new stores on a full-year basis.

“Despite the prevailing low selling price inflation, Boxer’s ability to achieve like-for-like volume growth has considerably supported the interim result, and bodes well for the full year,” the retailer said.

It noted that, while recent trading is encouraging, the retailer’s performance in the second half of its 2026 financial year will largely be driven by trading over the critical Black Friday and Festive periods.

On the back of these strong results, Boxer declared its inaugural interim dividend of 45.30 cents per share.