Mr Price announces plan to exit Nigeria

Mr Price Group, a South African clothing and homeware retailer, has announced plans to exit Nigeria.

Mark Blair, chief executive of the clothing and homeware retailer, told analysts at the group’s full-year results presentation on Thursday that the company would now focus on its home market

In 2019, Mr Price closed its stores in Australia and Poland.

“Quite frankly I’m not prepared to invest any further whether it’s an investment in time or in money into a country that is volatile as it is,” Reuters quoted Blair to have said.

“In the early days we were making money but now we just came up against too many roadblocks, whether it’s getting the money out, etc.”

According to Blair, the company has closed four of its five stores in Nigeria and would close the last one in a few months.

“We are really going to focus on South Africa in a more concentrated way,” Mark Stirton, the company’s chief financial officer, said.

The company said it expects “a lot of distress among retail peers” in South Africa.

As part of measures of conserving cash, the company did not declare a final dividend and also said it has frozen head-office salaries.

Businesses have had to close shop due to lockdowns imposed across the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus.