Mr Price Group said retail sales for the 13 weeks to 27 June 2026 rose 45.3% to R13.1 billion after adding the newly acquired NKD business to its books. Stripping out NKD, sales from its African operations grew 3.2% to R9.3 billion, while the region’s gross margin — the share of sales left after paying for products — improved by 0.40 percentage points (40 basis points, where 100 basis points equal one percentage point). NKD’s European stores contributed R3.8 billion in sales in the quarter; NKD is a value-focused fashion and home retailer previously under Pegasus Group Holding GmbH.
The jump shows the mechanical effect of consolidation: once a deal closes, the buyer records the acquired company’s sales alongside its own, boosting group totals even if underlying trading is steady. The more telling signal is the African unit’s modest growth paired with a margin uplift, suggesting better product mix, pricing, or sourcing discipline despite a still-tight South African consumer backdrop marked by high living costs and uneven power supply stability. NKD broadens Mr Price’s geographic reach and category mix, but also introduces European cost structures, currency exposure to the euro, and integration tasks that can weigh on profitability before synergies bed down.
What matters next is whether African like-for-like trading can accelerate through the winter season, if the margin gains hold as promotions ebb and input costs move, and how quickly NKD’s profitability trends toward group targets. Watch for updates on integration milestones, any changes in stock turn and markdown levels, and commentary on currency swings between the rand and the euro, which could shape both reported sales and margins in the coming quarters.
For more detail, read the full announcement.