Big South African food retailer opening stores across South Africa

Discount retailer Boxer added 48 net new stores to its network in its 2025 financial year, bringing its total estate to 525 stores.

Boxer released its results for the year ended 2 March 2025 on Monday, 12 May 2025, which revealed a mixed set of results.

Positively, Boxer’s revenue grew by 13.15% to R42.75 billion in the 2025 financial year. The retailer reported like-for-like sales growth of 5.6%.

However, the retailer struggled to contain costs in the 2025 financial year. Its cost of merchandise sold rose by 12.86% to R33.29 billion, and trading costs grew by 15.9% to R7.06 billion.

These rising costs saw Boxer’s profit shrink, from R1.39 billion in 2024 to R1.38 billion in 2025.

The company’s basic earnings per share also fell, declining from 461.67 cents per share to 406.70 cents, a 12% drop.

The retailer explained that, while its 2025 trading margin came in well ahead of the 5.0% medium-term trading margin guidance, it continues to anticipate moderate margin pressure.

This is due to the costs associated with being a listed entity, an initial profit drag as its Tongaat DC is brought onstream, and from gross margin reinvestment where necessary to drive the competitiveness of the customer offer.

The retailer also pre-emptively warned that its weighted average number of ordinary shares for the 2026 financial year will increase by around 34% to fully account for the IPO share issue.

It explained that this will provide a drag on its earnings in the 2026 financial year and likely result in a year-on-year headline earnings per share decline.

However, Boxer reported significant growth in its store network in the 2025 financial year.

The retailer added 48 net new stores in FY25, taking the total estate to 525 stores, including 320 Boxer Superstores, 175 Boxer Liquor, and 30 Boxer Build stores. 

In addition, a total of 15 store conversions from Pick n Pay to Boxer were completed during the year, including eight Superstores and seven liquor stores. 

The retailer said it is particularly pleased with the sales uptick achieved in these stores after conversion to the Boxer banner.

“This has been a breakthrough year in Boxer’s journey – from our successful IPO to delivering strong results showing our growth and future potential,” Boxer CEO Marek Masojada said. 

“It’s a proud moment for our entire team, who have worked exceptionally hard to deliver value to both our customers and stakeholders. It speaks to the passion for our customers and the commitment to excellence that defines Boxer.” 

“We’re closing off this milestone year on a high and with renewed commitment to continue delivering on our winning strategy for the new year.”

As part of the restructuring associated with the IPO, Boxer declared dividends totalling R9.3 billion to Pick n Pay before the IPO. 

Therefore, in line with the pre-listing statement, Boxer did not declare a FY25 final dividend, and maintains its intention to pay out 40% of headline earnings per share from FY26. 

In addition, Boxer announced that it intends to declare an interim FY26 dividend at the time of its H1 FY26 results.