Santa spent more on school essentials than toys during the festive season — a sign of how financially stressed SA's middle-class is.

As Woolworths tries to recover from the impairments of A$712.5 million (R7.02 billion) it suffered last year in its Australian subsidiary David Jones, the retailer continued to experience declining sales in the 26 weeks to end December trading period in South Africa.

Retail group SPAR said on Wednesday (14/11/2018) its headline earnings per share increased by 1.4 percent to 965.7 cents in the year ended September.

The retailer has struggled in the South African market, which accounts for 91.6% of Massmart’s total sale. Massmart, which is 51% owned by US giant Walmart, is battling one of the worst retail environments yet it has seen in SA, chair Kuseni Dlamini says.

Pick n Pay's interim results showed that the retailer delivered its strongest six-month trade performance, measured by volume, in five years. 

The retailer earned less in franchise fee income from Express stores due to a new agreement between Pick n Pay and BP. Measured by the volume of groceries sold, Pick n Pay delivered its strongest six-month trade performance in five years, its interim results released on Tuesday morning claimed.

Massmart cut its interim dividend by 10.5% to 68c for the first half of its 2018 financial year from 76c in the corresponding period.

The R6.9bn impairment of Australian department store chain David Jones knocked Woolworths into a loss of R3.5bn for its 2018 financial year, from a profit of R5.4bn in the prior year, it reported on Thursday (23 August 2018) morning.

In testing trading conditions, the Shoprite Group has continued to show strength and resilience and has built on its solid foundation for future growth.

Retailer Massmart’s share price jumped almost 9%, after the group reported a better than expected performance for the half-year to end-June.

Woolworths will report a loss due to the impairment of its Australian department store chain David Jones.

Hyperinflation in Angola dragged down Shoprite’s full-year revenue, sending the share price down as much as 6.5% on Wednesday.