Retailer Lewis got an 11.5% boost from Black Friday promotions and high inventory, bringing its annual sales to R4.4 billion.

The group released its results for the year ended 31 March 2022, on Thursday, which showed that Lewis’ headline earnings per share increased by 37.7% to 849 cents. 

The Beares owner declared a final dividend of 218 cents per share, attributing its headline earnings growth to its share repurchase programme, which it started in 2017.  The group repurchased 8.7 million shares at R353.2 million for the year.

"The quality of the group’s debtors’ book continued to improve, with collection rates strengthening, the percentage of satisfactory paid accounts increasing and debtor costs continuing to decline," said Lewis.

The group’s performance came during a tough economy, marked by the 2021 July unrest and the ongoing global supply chain challenges.

CEO Johan Enslin explained that the group continues to keep higher stock levels to ensure that it has enough available to during the ongoing supply chain challenges that have resulted in a global shipping container shortage and congestion at ports. 

The retailer managed to open 12 new stores across all its brands during the period, taking its total store footprint 819. Debt collection rates grew to 79% from 71.8% in 2021 and the satisfactory paid accounts jumped from 74.4% to 79%. Debtor costs declined by 13.6%.

The retailer’s credit sales also had a boost, growing by 16.7%, while cash sales increased by 6.4%. The group also generated R863 million in cash.

Lewis said its second and third quarters of the year were impacted by the July 2021 unrest, but in the fourth quarter leading up to March 2022, its sales grew by 7.1% driven by its traditional brands.

The retailer said 52 of its 57 stores that were damaged in the unrest, reopened during the year, and the last five stores are trading from temporary premises while repairs take place. Its insurance claim for the damage, amounted to about R78.8 million.

However, the performance of the Lewis, Best Home and Electric, and Beares brands was affected by R131 million impairment charges. 

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