More retail companies will release their results in the coming month. According to some of the companies’ results released, it is evident the impact the rioting and looting had on them was severe.
The retail sector was heavily impacted by the July unrest.
A look back at the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng:
Stores such as Massmart were targeted during the unrest. The damage has a long-lasting effect.
“Many of those shops that were looted, you know some of them haven’t come back on yet, some of them depending on the extent of the damage have still not been rebuilt and not the entire amount of the insurance has been paid out to everyone as yet, so this was long-lasting damage,” says Independent Analyst Chris Gilmour.
The retail sector suffered a double blow in the past six months, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the looting in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
“The companies that bore the brunt, the Massmart companies, I’m thinking companies like Game, like Makro, they really got hit very badly indeed because those big-ticket items I’m talking about and they hardly have recovered in the past few months.”
Clothing sector expected to see good results
But not all sectors in retail were dealt a bad hand.
“Clothing, footwear, textile, and leather were good. They’ve had a good six months, it has been positive every single month. Pharmaceuticals did very well indeed, they’ve had a good six months, not as good as the clothing side…. and I think, if there’s one category, one segment that’s actually done reasonably well, it is the clothing segment.”
The investment analyst adds that the retail sector won’t be able to keep up the momentum into the year 2022, this is because of continued high unemployment and high taxes.
