New bank coming to South Africa already has 6,000 stores and millions of customers

Pepkor has reported another strong set of results for its 2025 financial year, which saw the retail giant open its 6,000th store and more than double its profit.

Pepkor is one of the country’s largest retailers and the owner of popular retail brands, including PEP, Ackermans, Incredible Connection, and HiFiCorp.

On Tuesday, 25 November, Pepkor released its results for the year ended September 2025, which revealed a strong performance.

The retailer’s revenue increased by 12% to R95.34 billion, while its cost of sales increased by 9.4% to R88.32 billion.

This enabled the company to increase its gross profit margin by 150 basis points to 39.8%, while its operating profit reached R10.72 billion, up 55.5% from the 2024 financial year.

The company’s strong revenue growth was largely driven by its Clothing and general merchandise (CGM) segment, which increased revenue by 8.9% to R66.9 billion.

Pepkor’s Furniture, appliances and electronics (FAE) segment increased revenue by 7.2% to R11.8 billion. 

Its FinTech segment increased revenue by 31.1% to R16.6 billion, driven by 61.4% growth in financial services and 13.7% growth in Flash.

A standout performer in this set of results was Pepkor’s financial services business, which, while still not contributing nearly as much as retail, grew revenue by 56.6% to R6.20 billion.

This comes as the retailer is looking to launch a bank, and has received regulatory approval from the Prudential Authority to establish this banking presence in South Africa.

Pepkor made a profit of R5.64 billion for the year, a 172.1% increase compared to 2024.

The retailer’s earnings saw a similarly large jump, with basic earnings from continuing operations up 141.3% to 153 cents per share, while total basic earnings per share were up 171.3% to 153 cents.

The company’s headline earnings per share from continuing operations rose to 161 cents, up from 140.2 cents a year ago. Normalised HEPS grew 23.4% to 161 cents.

While Pepkor recorded a decline in its cash generated to R10.9 billion, this was attributed to its strategic investment in the FoneYam business.

CFO Riaan Hanekom pointed out that the group managed to achieve strong cash generation and enhanced returns despite its high levels of strategic investment during the year.

The retailer added that it expanded its customer reach across both physical and digital channels in the year, surpassing 6,000 retail stores and adding more than 10 million customers across its digital ecosystem in 2025.

Pepkor declared a dividend of 53 cents per share, up 9.2% compared to 2024’s dividend.