Strategic initiatives at The Foschini Group bode well

05 Sep '12

3 min read

Doug Murray, group CEO of TFG (The Foschini Group Limited), told the 75th Annual General Meeting in Parow that the group looked forward to a busy festive season, though mindful of the tougher consumer environment.

TFG looks on track for another positive year, this from CEO Doug Murray during today’s Annual General Meeting as he revealed that sales have increased by 13.2% Y/Y. While a lot rests on the group’s performance during the festive period, the group is satisfied that the various trading divisions are currently performing well. Despite the consumer still being under pressure, TFG has focused on its strategic objectives and this is bearing fruit.

The group continues with its strategic initiatives which include supply chain optimisation to ensure fast-fashion capability and CRM focus to increase customer spend, including the launch of its rewards programme for credit customers later this year.

It also plans to reposition its Jewellery division to drive old store growth and to identify additional expansion opportunities.

In the past year the group also expanded its store base, opening 150 new stores including 18 outside of SA. It introduced credit sales in Lesotho and Botswana for the first time and enlarged its customer base through the acquisition of Fabiani and G-Star which gave it an entrée into the luxury menswear market.

In the current year, in line with its strategy of investing for long-term growth, it plans to open a further 150 new stores in certain of its formats and anticipates increasing trading space by approximately 7% in the current year.

The group, which is one of the largest credit retailers in the country, consists of women and men’s clothing chains, jewellery, sport, homeware and furniture retail divisions as well as financial services and apparel supply divisions.

Among these are Foschini which comprises Donna-Claire, Fashion Express and Luella chains, exact!, menswear retailer, Markham, Jewellery division (American Swiss and Sterns) and sport retailers, Sportscene, Totalsports and Due South. It also owns @home and @homelivingspace and two financial services divisions, one which supplies credit to its group customers and the other, RCS in which TFG holds 55% with Standard Bank.

RCS provides transactional finance, personal loans and private label cards to other retailers.

Mr Murray said despite the more challenging credit environment TFG’s retail debtors’ book was performing satisfactorily and within management expectations, while RCS continues to perform well.

The Foschini Group (TFG) consists of 14 trading brands, dealing in lifestyle products that range from fashion, jewellery, accessories, cosmetics, cellphones, sporting and outdoor apparel and equipment to homewares, as well as financial services. TFG trades in over 1 700 stores, making it one of the foremost specialty retailers in South Africa.

The Foschini Group

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