Fashion retailer TFG targets $580 mln in homeware turnover by 2027 (updated)

China Cultural Tourism and Agriculture

11/11/2022 07:42

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      Half-year HEPS up 18.1%
    

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      Plans to add 250 new homeware stores
    

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      Testing manufacturing @Home sofas locally
    

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      Sees 10 bln rand sales in homeware by 2027
    

  
 (Recasts with homeware)
    By Nqobile Dludla
       JOHANNESBURG, Nov 11 (Reuters) - South African retailer
TFG  TFGJ.J  expects to deliver 10 billion rand ($580 million)
in annual turnover from its homewares division by 2027, up from
2 billion rand, buoyed by strong demand, its CEO said.
    The owner of British womenswear brand Hobbs and South
Africa's Foschini clothing brand recently expanded its furniture
and homewares business by buying the mid-to-upper market
Tapestry Home Brands earlier this year and relaunching the Jet
Home brand as part of its lower-cost clothing brand, Jet.
    The expansion came at a time when demand for furniture and
homeware had risen as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions forced
people to work and study at home, a trend that is waning as
work-from-home mandates have eased and discretionary spend comes
under pressure.
    But TFG Chief Executive Officer Anthony Thunström still sees
strong demand for the company's lower-cost homeware items, while
affluent customers continued to buy items for their homes, he
told Reuters.
    Therefore TFG wants to expand the group's furniture and
homeware portfolio by opening 100 new stores under the Tapestry
brand, owner of the Coricraft, Volpes and Dial-a-bed chains, and
150 Jet Home stores in the next three years, he told investors.
    TFG, which also has operations in Britain and Australia, is
also trialing the manufacture of previously imported @Home sofas
in South Africa to reduce reliance on strained global supply
lines and associated rises in shipping costs and delivery times.
    "The first samples that came out from production were
between 20% and 25% less expensive than importing them. So we
think, particularly in a tough environment, if we can pass on a
20%-25% saving on our higher cost item to a consumer it's going
to drive volume, it's going to drive margins," said Thunström.
    TFG reported an 18.1% rise in headline earnings per share
(HEPS) and retail turnover growth of 23.5% at 23.5 billion rand
in the six months ended Sept. 30.
($1 = 17.2532 rand)
 (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; editing by David Evans, Bradley
Perrett and Louise Heavens)
 ((nqobile.dludla@thomsonreuters.com; +27103461066;))