Bash, the online retail platform built by Superbalist co-founders Claude Hannan and Luke Jadeyekin for TFG (The Foschini Group), is proving to be a success for the retailer.

“Store retail turnover continued to see strong growth up 9.3% [for Africa]. Following our continued investment in our e-commerce platform, Bash, online retail turnover grew 44.4% and now contributes 4.2% to retail turnover,” said TFG in its annual financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.

TFG’s footprint is spread across three continents. It has divisions in London and Australia, as well as an Africa division, which is dominated by its activities in South Africa. Online retail growth was strongest in Africa.

Total group online retail was up 22% to R5.6-billion, contributing 9.9% to turnover. The gap between group and Africa online sales at 4.2% suggests that there is still room for TFG to bolster its online sales in the local market.

TFG’s portion of online sales as a total of revenue is in line with industry trends. In May, World Wide Worx released its 2024 Online Retail in South Africa report, which showed that online sales now represent 6% of the R1.1-trillion total sales volumes generated by the retail sector in 2023.

TFG group revenue climbed 8.9% to R60.1-billion and operating profit before finance costs was up by 9.9% to R5.9-billion. The owner of the Foschini and Markham clothing stores reported headline earnings per share of 970.7c, up from 968.9c a year earlier.

Port delays

The company, which also operates in the UK with Hobbs and Whistles stores and Australia with menswear clothing brands Connor and Johnny Bigg, said retail turnover grew more than 10% in its Africa arm, largely driven by clothing.

It said port delays affected imports in its Africa business, but its local manufacturing mitigated the impact. South African fashion retailers are ramping up local production and using alternative sea ports and air freight to mitigate the impact of congestion at traditional ports that have caused massive delays in stock deliveries.

TFG reported a final dividend of R2/share, up from R1.50 in the previous year. The TFG share price was up 7.31% in lunchtime trading in Johannesburg on Friday at R99.80. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media, with additional reporting by Tannur Anders, © 2024 Reuters