South Africa’s SPAR reports 8.8% rise in FY earnings

South Africa’s SPAR Group reported on Wednesday an 8.8% increase in full-year earnings, supported by strong demand for groceries during the lockdown period.

The grocery chain and wholesaler, which also sells building materials and medicine, said normalised diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) rose to 1,262.6 cents in the year to Sept. 30 from 1,160.6 cents a year earlier.

HEPS is the most widely used profit measure in South Africa.

SPAR declared an annual dividend of 865 cents per share, 8.1% higher than the previous year. – reuters.com