Skip to main content

Boxer remains confident in growth despite liquor store delays

| Store Openings

Boxer said it was on track to meet its 2025 financial year guidance on Superstore rollout, including Pick n Pay conversions, despite delays in opening of liquor stores.

In the trading update for the 45 weeks ended 5 January, the maiden trading update post the 28 November 2024 listing, the discount retailer said liquor store openings have been impacted by delays in the granting of liquor licences for several of the planned stores.

Sales for the period grew 11.4% and 6.7% like-for-like while sales for the 19 weeks to 5 January 2025 grew 10.8% and 5.5% like-for-like.

Boxer said the softening in sales momentum versus the 2025 financial year was the result of the business coming off a significantly stronger in the second half of the 2024 financial year base versus the first half of the 2024 financial year.

As a reminder, sales growth for the second half of the year was 18.6% (11.6% like-for-like) versus 15.9% (4.3% like-for-like) in the first half.

“Boxer is pushing to finalise the outstanding licences before financial year end, but the outcome is not fully within management's control,” it said.

“The Boxer team looks forward to driving continued growth in FY26, and is working tirelessly to execute on the planned FY26 store pipeline.”

Internal food inflation for the Period was 6.1% versus 5.3% for the first half of the 2025 financial year.

Boxer's reported internal inflation is based on the year-on-year change in average unit prices for items common to both periods, where average unit price is calculated as total like-for-like sales divided by total related product volumes.

The methodology does not normalise for mix change impacts which are highly influenced by promotional activity.

Whereas mix change does not normally have a material impact on the reported number, in the period the mix change impact was meaningful.

Normalising for mix change impacts, Boxer's inflation for the period would be 0.0%, vs. 0.5% in H1 FY25, which Boxer believes provides a truer reflection of underlying inflation for its customers. The gross profit margin achieved on a year-to date basis is in line with Boxer's expectations.

Pin It

Related Articles

Woolworths Announces the Expansion of stand-alone WCellar liquor stores in Six New Locations
Shoprite is marking a major milestone with the opening of its 150th supermarket in Gauteng, at the iconic Carlton Centre in Johannesburg’s central business district.  
Woolworths has expanded its premium liquor offering to six new WCellar store locations.
By: Nicola Mawson - IOL South Africa’s second largest grocery store, Pick n Pay is gearing up for an aggressive expansion strategy that will see new outlets sprout across the nation from 2026.
Boxer Superstores proudly marked the opening of its 500th store in Southern Africa, welcoming shoppers to the new location at Port Shepstone Mall on the 24th of October.