Meteoric rise left competitors way behind
GAZETTE REPORTER
Just after shares in Botswana’s discount supermarket chain Choppies resumed trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Friday last week at R0.64, on Monday the retailer’s value shot up by more than double.
Choppies shares opened the market at 9 am on Monday at R0.64 and went to R0.62 after 20 minutes. Another 2 cents were added on the Choppies stock at 11 am and towards noon the share shot up sharply until it was more than double the price it was when it was suspended. Before press time the Choppies share was still exchanging hands at a higher volume, it was at R2.30 and showing a continual upward movement.
Meanwhile, when Choppies gained by 220.31 percent by lunch time Monday, most of its competitors on the JSE’s Food & Drug Retailers sec-tor were in the red save for Clicks which gained by a meagre 0.51 percent. Spar lost 2.94 percent, Pick n Pay fell by 2.43 percent, Shoprite 7.52 percent and Dis-Chem by 1.98 percent. Choppies’ stock was suspended for two years after delays in release of financials.
Choppies shares plunged by more than 60 percent on the JSE around September 2018 after the retailer announced that it would delay publication of its financial statement. Choppies’ suspension on the Botswana Stock Exchange was lifted in July.
According to Choppies’ recently released financials, the company seems to be fighting back to regain its lost glory. From oblivion, it seems Choppies is on the right track with an interesting set of financials that are welcome in enhancing the balance sheet. Results indicate a growth mar-gin from 22.7 percent to 23.1 percent
On the local bourse, a fortnight ago Choppies retail magnates Ramachandran Ottapathu and Farouk Ismaili went on a huge shopping spree, buying shares in Choppies for P13.8 million. Ismail bought 10.8mil-lion shares while Ottapathu bought 13 million shares. Just after that transaction, the market saw another large block of Chop-pies shares moving across the board, this block being slightly bigger at 13.27 million shares valued at P7.96 million