Pepkor Africa, a clothing retailer which owns PEP store network, has denied recording low sales in any of its retail outlets in Nigeria.
The clothing retailer said this in response to a story published on August 3, 2017 in Business Day with the headline, ‘ Recession weakens purchasing power’ in which a staff member of PEP said, ‘ We have been recording low sales for months now and it is not enough to pay staff salaries, or even foot our bills. I hear we might close some of our shops if there is no improvement’’
In a mail to BusinessDay, the company through its public relations agency denied the above statement.
According to the mail, the clothing retailer said PEP has a total of 37 stores, of which seven new stores opened in the last 12 months. A further eight stores, it says, are scheduled to open before the end of 2017.”PEP Nigeria has been trading above forecast, recording positive growth in 2016 and to date in 2017,’’ the mail said.
‘‘PEP has increased its staff count and now employs over 250 staff in Nigeria, with all staff being paid on time every month’’
‘It is apparent from these figures that we are not only trading well but also remain committed to expenading our business across Nigeria,’’Kofo Awonuga, general manager, PEP Nigeria, said in the mail.
Data seen by BusinessDay shows that Financial Transaction volumes fell in July, a further sign that Nigeria’s recovery from her worst recession in 30 years will be painful, weak and slow.
Point of sale transaction fell by 3.60 percent, while transaction by cheque fell 97 percent and transfer transfers by NEFT fell 3.96 percent for the month.
However, manufacturing activity rose slightly, as optimistic manufacturers improved access to foreign exchange but meet resistance from weary consumers.
Traffic to malls however fell in July, especially on weekends, which retailers blamed on the rains and the weak disposable income of Nigerians.
Household Final Consumption Expenditure, including imputed expenditure, incurred by resident households on individual consumption goods and services, has been falling since 2015.
‘In the third quarter of 2016 real year growth in household consumption deteriorated, from a (revised) decline of 0.7%, to a decline of -2.0%. This reflects the continuing difficulties that consumers have faced in recent quarters, with rising unemployment, and high inflation eroding purchasing power,’’ the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in its latest GDP by expenditure report for third quarter 2016, released in June.
Nigeria’s employment rate rose to 13.9 percent in the third quarter of 2016, and by June, 2017 year on year inflation in the Consumer Price Index was 16.1 percent.
Chinwe Agbeze
