Pick and Buy maintains the lead despite the surge of inflation

“The new consumer behaviours span all areas of life, from how we work to how we shop to how we entertain ourselves,” announced a Mc Kinsey study, as early as 2020, while the world was just beginning to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Mauritius, several factors weigh on the financial results of Distributive Trade for year 2022. Firstly, as an Island state, the country is highly dependent on imports and bore the brunt of extremely high shipping costs. The inflation soared from 4% to nearly 10.8%, with the Consumer Price Index increasing from 113.3 to 127.1 within a year. Fuel costs reached a staggering +44% increase in 2022 with immediate impacts across the consumption and distribution channels. However, if the struggle is real for local consumers, yet, for the Distributive trade sector, the impact has been softened by external factors such as the boom of the tourism industry.

The transformation of the distributive trade sector is not over yet with a few areas to watch for the coming years such as the adoption of the Four-Days week alternative by employees, the sensibility of consumers to sustainable practices and the overall development of e-commerce.

In this complex and inflationary context, Pick and Buy Limited has increased its turnover by 10% and nearly reached the Rs 10 billion turnover milestone (Rs 9.93 bn). In parallel, its Profit before Tax have shot up by 106% (Rs 200 M). While Seven Seven Co. Ltd has maintained stable turnover and PBT increase, Udis Ltée (Super U) has surged forward and climbed to the second place with a 26% increase in Turnover and 207% PBT increase (Rs 494 M).

Somags Ltée and Bagatelle Distribution have both seen their profit diminish by -216 % and -49% respectively. Somags Ltée has been affected by the partial closure of Phoenix Mall to accommodate new infrastructures for the metro station and can expect positive windfalls as from end of 2023. However, the situation for Bagatelle Distribution is more challenging as it has to compete with the opening of the supersized Tribeca Mall at the very doors of Ebene Cybercity.