Mitch Slape - Afrikan Heroes

Massmart in Talks to Close Game Stores in East, West Africa

October 8, 2022

Walmart owned African subsidiary, Massmart has begun consultations about closing its Game stores in East and West Africa, after efforts to find buyers failed.

Massmart Holdings said that it had begun staff consultations about closing its Game stores in East and West Africa, after efforts to find domestic buyers for the stores failed.

Group CEO Mitch Slape said last year that it was in discussions to sell all its Game stores in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to stem losses in that struggling part of its business.

“Massmart initiated a process over a 12-month period to investigate … the opportunity to sell our East and West African stores to local investors. Unfortunately, this initiative did not deliver a meaningful outcome,” the company said in a statement.

Massmart has been posting losses and losing market share to bigger local rivals in South Africa, forcing majority owner Walmart to cut costs and invest more capital to turn the company around.

The US retail giant has signed a deal to begin buying the 47% stake in Massmart it did not already own.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Massmart Plans to Sell 14 Game Store Across East and West Africa

September 1, 2021

Wallmart invested Masmart Africa has announced that it is disposing of all its general merchandise Game stores in West and East Africa to stem losses in that struggling business. This was made known by Masmart CEO Mitch Slape after the Walmart’s majority-owned retailer reported a narrower half-year loss.

Like its peer Shoprite Holdings, forays into African markets including Nigeria have been marred by currency volatility and constrained consumer demand, making it difficult to operate profitably on the continent once touted as the next bright growth spot for retailers.

As part of a turnaround plan to stabilise the business, Massmart had said it will review its store portfolio outside of Southern Africa. That review has now resulted in the disposal of 14 stores across Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

“The performance and the complexity in running those businesses is something that frankly we needed to address. We’ve commenced a formal sales process, we’re currently in discussions with potential purchasers to take on those stores,” Slape was quoted as saying.

Through the disposal of non-core and underperforming assets and store closures, Massmart hopes to sharpen management’s focus and invest in high returning assets and online. Slape said the move will result in an annual profit before interest and tax improvement of 750 million rand ($50.24 million).

Game sales from the rest of the Africa stores fell by 18.6% in rand terms in the 26 weeks ended June, and by 5% in constant currencies, due to continued currency weaknesses, Massmart with presence in 12 African countries said. Game reported a narrower trading loss of 347.3 million rand in the period.

Through additional lower overheads, reduced Africa exposure and possible further store closures or disposals, Game will be in a break-even position, Slape said.

“But that is not enough. Achieving break even performance isn’t going to be sufficient for us to be satisfied, we’ve got to really get Game back to a healthy level of profitability and performance,” he said.

Group chief financial officer Mohammed Abdool-Samad said he hopes Game will break even in the next 12 months.