TFG announced a 9% increase in turnover for the nine months through December 2023 today, driven largely by growth in its African division and festive season trading.
In a trading update released this morning, TFG – which owns brands like Foschini, American Swiss, Exact, and Jet – said group turnover for the third quarter of the 2024 financial year grew 4.5%.
Turnover for the nine months ended 30 December 2023 grew by 9%.
TFG Africa turnover grew 5.1% in Q3 FY2024, with like-for-like turnover growth of 0.7%.
Turnover for the month of December grew 11.8% – like-for-like 6.1% – with the highest full-price contribution for the year to date.
TFG Africa’s cash turnover grew 6.6% in Q3 FY2024. Cash turnover for the quarter now comprises 75.8% of TFG Africa’s turnover and 82.4% of group turnover.
TFG said turnover in this division was impacted by a generally softer Black Friday period in South Africa, with stage 6 load-shedding implemented over that weekend.
“Despite the challenging macro context, festive season trade delivered pleasing results, with core merchandise categories achieving strong growth for the month of December 2023.”
However, TFG’s London division saw turnover decline by 3% in Q3 FY2024 in GBP terms.
TFG Australia’s turnover also declined 7.3% in AUD terms in Q3 FY2024.
However, group online turnover boomed in the period, growing 29.2% in Q3 FY2024, contributing 9.1% to total group turnover for the quarter.
TFG Africa’s online turnover grew 44.8% in Q3, contributing 4.2% of total TFG Africa turnover.
In its update, TFG lamented economic conditions in all its operating territories, saying they “remain challenging”.
“In South Africa, this was exacerbated by continued load-shedding and delays experienced at ports, which impeded the planned flow of inventory,” it said.
However, it said the impact of these import delays was offset to an extent by the ability to increase volumes from TFG’s local manufacturing capacity.
“TFG London and TFG Australia’s performances are set against last year’s exceptionally strong post Covid-19 recovery,” the company explained.
“Consumers remain under pressure, with higher inflation and interest rates adversely impacting sales.”