What went wrong at Pick n Pay, and how will it find its way back?
Pick n Pay suffered massive financial losses over the course of the last decade.
Pick n Pay front of store: Supplied
Stephen Grootes interviews Evan Walker, Portfolio Manager at 36ONE Asset Management.
Listen to the interview in the audio player below.
South Africa’s once-dominant food retailer, Pick n Pay has been on the decline over the last 15 years, following the resignation of Sean Summers as CEO.
Summers was at the helm from 1999 to 2007, but returned to the position in October 2023 as the company desperately tried to turn around its decline.
He replaced the outgoing Pieter Boone, who stepped down as CEO less than two and a half years into the role.
Pick n Pay's decline also coincided with the rise of other retailers and its direct competitors such as Checkers and Woolworths.
Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Evan Walker, Portfolio Manager at 36ONE Asset Management, says while the worst might be over, it's still going to be a tough trading environment.
"Inflation's coming down over the next 12 months. We're certainly not going to have food inflation running in the 7, 8's or 9's that we saw, and that's going to be reflected in pretty, pretty benign top-line growth..."
- Evan Walker, Portfolio Manager - 36ONE Asset Management
"It's going to be a question of, do delivery options where you can, and then try fix your footprint and not worry about your competition."
- Evan Walker, Portfolio Manager - 36ONE Asset Management
"Just try and sustain, and build the business back to levels where, people that do, and are shopping...11 million customers are still using their Smart Shopper, that's still formidable."
- Evan Walker, Portfolio Manager - 36ONE Asset Management
Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.