ShopRite Nigeria has debunked the story making the rounds that it intends to shut shop in Nigeria.

The Country Director for Chastex Consult, Ini Archibong, during a conversation with Vanguard, said:

“Shoprite isn’t leaving Nigeria.
We have barely opened to Nigerian investors. We aren’t leaving, who leaves over a $30billion investment and shut shop? It doesn’t sound correct.
We only gave this chance to Nigeria investors to return in and also help drive our expansion plan in Nigeria. So we aren’t leaving.
I have tried to mention this to several people as I can. There should be no panic in the least and every one of that. There’s no truth therein report.”

Recall that reports are circulating around that the retail outlet has started a proper process to think about the potential sale of all or a majority of stake in its supermarkets in Nigeria.

The report said the retailer had struggled within the Nigeria market after some South African owned retailer shops exited the Nigeria market.

The report further stated that Shoprite’s results for the year don’t reflect any of their operations in Nigeria because it is going to be classified as a discontinued operation.

The report also said international markets excluding Nigeria contributed 11.6 per cent to the group sales and reported 1.4 per cent decline in sales from 2018.

South African operations contributed 78 per cent of the general sales and saw 8.7 per cent rise for the years. The report went further to mention that as a result of the lockdown, customers’ visits declined 7.4 per cent but the typical basket spends increased by 18.4 per cent.