South Africa retail store Shoprite has announced it is quitting the Uganda market, ending a 21-year journey of its operations in the East African country.
Shoprite, which is also leaving Madagascar, said the decision follows a review of its operations, which indicated that the retail store has been making losses.
“In line with the group’s non-RSA review process, our operations in Madagascar and Uganda have been classified as discontinued,” Shoprite announced on Monday, 23 August 2021.
Shoprite has already closed its operations in Kenya and Nigeria.
Shoprite is owned by investors from South Africa. Shoprite has 5 stores in Uganda. Over the last three years, Shoprite has been performing abysmally.
According to the 2020 results, the company’s accumulated losses were reported at UGX43.5 billion, up from UGX24.5 billion in 2017. This can only mean that in 2018 and 2019 the company made combined losses of about UGX19 billion
Recently, this website reported that Carrefour, a supermarket chain owned by UAE-based Majid Al Futtaim, is in talks with Shoprite, with a view to acquiring the latter’s stake in Uganda.
The two principals are in the final stages of concluding the deal with the announcement expected soon,.
“They are finalising the practical details and possibly filing the necessary regulatory paperwork, before formally announcing the deal,” sources say.
The takeover would underlie Carrefour’s determination to cement its mark on the Ugandan market. Carrefour opened its first outlet in Uganda in 2019, and currently operates over 130 hypermarkets, supermarkets, and online stores in 15 countries across the region, with plans to extend into 38 countries in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Russia.