Shoprite, Nigeria To Take Ownership

The Africa biggest grocery retailer and the South Africa-owned business, Shoprite has on Monday announced its exit from Nigeria after 15 years of operations.

This was disclosed in the company’s latest operational and voluntary trading update published on Monday.

The decision was also confirmed from one of the company’s Anchor tenants in Grand Tower,  Nze Chidi Duru, Apo Mall,idi Duru, whose Partner, Novare is also a landlord to Shoprite in three other locations in Abuja.

“discussion is ongoing and at advanced level to dispose their (Shoprite) assets in Nigeria to a local.”

According to Duru: “The impact will be that the ownership of Shoprite in Nigeria will now be in the hands of a local.”

He is however uncertain if the brand name Shoprite will remain unchanged when it reverts to a Nigerian owner.

Duru said the departure of Shoprite from Nigeria invariably is not good for the economy.

“The challenge of retailers is compounded by the fact that you are in an environment where you have no control over the value of the local currency.”

He lamented retailers such as Shoprite “are buying in international currencies like dollars, Euro and Pounds and you are selling in local currency and the Naira changes like the Oklahoma weather so you have no control of the end-to-end of your business”.

He called on “decision makers to do something quickly around the Naira and also for the Central bank to begin to act as banker of last resort and not to get involved in the politics of managing currency the way they have been managing the currency”.

On the expected job losses from Shoprite’s exit from Nigeria, Nze Duru said: “It is difficult to compute, note that they have strategically encouraged suppliers in Nigeria they have developed suppliers around snail and fish industries and all that.

“I cannot determine the level of job losses but it will have impact on the economy one of which is job losses”.

Shoprite entered into Nigeria in December 2005 when its first supermarket shopping centre was opened in Lagos.

Presently, the company has a total of 26 stores across eight states in the country including Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The company also claim to have employed more than 2,000 people in Nigeria, of which 99 per cent of them are Nigerians.

Shoprite claimed to have built more relationships with over 300 Nigeria suppliers, small businesses and farmers.