Pepkor

What Pepkor does

Pepkor Holdings Limited is a South African investment holding company that operates as a vertically integrated retail platform serving mass-market consumers across southern Africa, Brazil and select African countries. The group is organized around three platforms: a Retail platform comprising 6,657 stores across clothing and general merchandise (PEP, Ackermans, Choice, Tekkie Town and the recently acquired Legit, Swagga, Style and Boardmans) and furniture, appliances and electronics (Pepkor Lifestyle brands including Russells, Bradlows, Sleepmasters, Incredible and HiFi Corp); a Financial Services platform (Capfin unsecured lending, Abacus Insurance, FoneYam smartphone rentals and the planned PlusB digital bank); and an Informal Market platform (Flash, serving 170,000 traders). For H1 FY26 (six months ended 31 March 2026), Pepkor reported revenue of R54.8 billion (+13.2% YoY), operating profit of R6.3 billion (+9.4% YoY), HEPS of 93.1c (+10.3%) and return on net assets of 20.7%, with 32 million annual store visitors served across the network.

The group's revenue model is anchored in everyday-low-price physical retail (72% of group revenue from clothing and general merchandise, 12% from furniture, appliances and electronics) and is increasingly supplemented by recurring financial services revenue (R3 billion in H1 FY26, +41% YoY, with operating profit +63.4% YoY). Pepkor deepens customer relationships through the +more loyalty platform (16.2 million members), A+ cross-brand retail credit, the FoneYam smartphone rental programme (over 2 million active customers, 13.5 million cumulative handsets) and the Flash informal market platform. Its go-to-market is fundamentally a direct-to-consumer physical retail model, supplemented by brand e-commerce sites, the PAXI parcel network (2,800 collection points, 5.7 million parcels delivered) and digital financial services. The company is JSE-listed with Investec as corporate sponsor and PwC as auditor, and is led by CEO Pieter Erasmus and CFO Riaan Hanekom.

Pepkor's distribution is the largest in southern Africa, with footprint expansion underway in Latin America (203 stores in Brazil via Grupo Avenida, 87% stake acquired February 2022 for $228 million) and additional African countries (221 PEP Africa stores; 400+ stores pending from the announced Shoprite furniture business acquisition for R3.2 billion). The group is executing a strategic pivot into full retail banking under the PlusB brand, having received regulatory approval from the South African Reserve Bank's Prudential Authority in November 2025, and intends to leverage its 6,500+ store network for a 2027 launch with a sub-R1 billion build cost and 30%+ ROE target by year five. Supporting infrastructure includes the Cloudbadger fintech platform acquisition (October 2025) and an early-adopter enterprise partnership with Salesforce and Google Cloud for AI agent deployment.

Name

Pepkor

Legal name

Pepkor Holdings Limited

Website

http://pepkor.co.za/

Company type

Public

Founded year

1965

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Pepkor Holdings is a South African retail holding company operating 6,657 stores across clothing, furniture, appliances, financial services and informal markets in southern Africa and Brazil, serving 32 million annual consumers with a planned PlusB digital bank launch in 2027.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Sales - Clothing and General Merchandise: Core retail revenue from clothing, footwear, accessories, and general merchandise through brands including PEP, Ackermans, Choice, Tekkie Town, and Speciality brands. Accounts for 72% of group revenue.
2. Retail Sales - Furniture, Appliances and Electronics: Revenue from furniture, appliances, and consumer electronics through brands including Russells, Bradlows, Rochester, Sleepmasters, Incredible, and HiFi Corp. Represents 12% of group revenue.
3. Financial Services - Lending and Credit: Revenue from unsecured personal loans (Capfin), retail credit accounts, and store credit cards. Financial services revenue grew 41% to R3 billion with 63.4% operating profit increase.
4. Financial Services - Connectivity: Revenue from smartphone sales and rentals through FoneYam, cellular handsets sold (13.5 million cumulative), and mobile device protection services.
5. Financial Services - Insurance: Revenue from funeral policies through Abacus Insurance with over 1 million lives covered, and other insurance products.
6. Informal Market - Flash Platform: B2B and B2C revenue through Flash platform serving 170,000 informal market traders with throughput of R34.7 billion, providing virtual products and digital financial services.
7. Digital Banking (Planned): Revenue from PlusB digital bank launching 2027, providing everyday financial services including credit, payments, savings, and connectivity.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Pepkor is a retail-powered consumer platform operating more than 6,600 stores across southern Africa, Brazil, and other African countries, selling affordable clothing, footwear, furniture, appliances, and consumer electronics through owned brands including PEP, Ackermans, Choice, Tekkie Town, and Avenida. The company extends beyond merchandise into integrated financial services (Capfin unsecured lending, Abacus funeral insurance, FoneYam smartphone rentals, A+ cross-shop credit) and the Flash informal market platform serving 170,000 traders with virtual products. Pepkor is building the PlusB digital bank for 2027 launch, leveraging its store network for distribution into everyday banking for mass-market and underbanked consumers.

Product overview

Pepkor is a retail-powered consumer platform serving everyday needs at scale through three integrated platforms: Retail, Financial Services, and Informal Market. The retail platform comprises over 6,600 stores across clothing/general merchandise (PEP, Ackermans, Choice, Pepkor Speciality with brands including Tekkie Town, Dunns, Refinery, Legit, and international expansion via PEP Africa and Avenida in Brazil) and furniture/appliances/electronics (Pepkor Lifestyle with Russells, Bradlows, Sleepmasters, Incredible, HiFi Corp). Financial services include Capfin (lending), Abacus Insurance, FoneYam (smartphone rentals), and the planned PlusB digital bank. The informal market platform Flash serves 170,000 informal traders with R60 billion throughput. Supporting infrastructure includes PAXI logistics (2,800 points), A+ retail credit, and +more loyalty (16.2 million members). The company is expanding into full banking services in 2027 with regulatory approval received.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Capfin: Unsecured lending service providing hassle-free loans with ethical and responsible lending practices.
• Abacus
• FoneYam
• PlusB
• Flash
• A+ Card
• +more

Products and services

• PEP PEP is Pepkor's flagship discount retail brand and the largest single brand retailer in South Africa with 2,715 stores, offering affordable clothing, footwear, homeware, and cellular products at the lowest prices through operational efficiencies and regular price benchmarking.
• Ackermans Ackermans is a leading baby and kidswear value retailer in South Africa with 1,041 stores, serving customers seeking quality fashion and essentials at affordable prices, supported by the Ububele community programme.
• Choice Clothing Choice Clothing is a bold, adult-focused value fashion retailer with 106 stores delivering fashion, footwear, and accessories at competitive prices through a fast, opportunity-led buying approach.
• PEP Africa PEP Africa is the largest formal clothing retailer on the African continent with 221 stores, providing quality clothing, footwear, homeware, and cellular products at the lowest possible prices outside South Africa.
• Avenida Avenida is a leading discount retailer in Brazil with 203 stores, bringing quality essentials to families at affordable prices in the midwestern and northern regions of Brazil.
• Tekkie Town Tekkie Town is a footwear retail brand with 393 stores offering shoes and related accessories as part of Pepkor's Speciality division.
• Legit Legit is a value fashion brand targeting the women's wear market, acquired by Pepkor through the Retailability acquisition with stores across southern Africa.
• Russells Russells is a furniture retailer with 230 stores as part of Pepkor Lifestyle, providing affordable furniture and home essentials to value-focused South African consumers.
• Bradlows Bradlows is a furniture retailer with 239 stores as part of Pepkor Lifestyle, offering quality affordable furniture to South African consumers.
• Sleepmasters Sleepmasters is a mattress and bedding retailer with 266 stores as part of Pepkor Lifestyle, providing affordable sleep products to value-conscious consumers.
• Incredible Incredible is a furniture and appliance retailer with 96 stores as part of Pepkor Lifestyle.
• HiFi Corp HiFi Corp is a consumer electronics and appliances retailer with 56 stores as part of Pepkor Lifestyle.
• Capfin Capfin provides unsecured personal loans through a hassle-free process prioritising ethical and responsible lending practices, with 373,000 active loan customers.
• FoneYam FoneYam is Pepkor's affordable smartphone rental service offered at selected PEP and Ackermans stores with a small initial payment, flexible monthly terms, and built-in device protection, serving over 2 million active customers with 13.5 million handsets sold cumulatively.
• Abacus Insurance Abacus Insurance provides tailored and affordable insurance solutions including funeral policies with personalised support, covering over 1 million lives across Pepkor's retail network.
• Flash Flash is a technology-driven B2B and B2C platform for informal market traders providing affordable access to virtual products like airtime, mobile data, and prepaid electricity, serving 170,000 traders with R60 billion throughput across Africa and Europe.
• PAXI PAXI is Pepkor's affordable courier and parcel delivery service with 2,800 distribution points in PEP, Tekkie Town, and Shoe City stores, serving 15,500 business customers with 5.7 million parcels delivered.
• A+ Card A+ Card is an interoperable retail credit account across Pepkor's clothing brands enabling seamless shopping across multiple stores, with over R6 billion in cross-shop sales and over 280,000 Lifestyle accounts.
• +more Loyalty +more is Pepkor's digital rewards platform with 16.2 million members and 1.1 million monthly active app users, providing exclusive savings, instant rewards, and tailored offers across participating retail brands.

Quantifiable outcome

• 170% profit increase in FY2025
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.coreOthersPwC serves as independent auditor for Pepkor Holdings Limited, located at 5 Silo Square, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.
• RetailabilitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPepkor acquired Retailability brands (Legit, Swagga, Style, Boardmans) for approximately R1.7 billion ($98 million), adding 469 stores to the retail network.
• ShopritemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPepkor agreed to acquire Shoprite's furniture business operating over 400 stores across several African countries for approximately R3.2 billion (~$179 million), pending regulatory approval.
• Grupo Avenida S.A.majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPepkor acquired 87% stake in Brazilian retailer Grupo Avenida S.A. for approximately $228 million, marking first expansion into South America in February 2022.

Scale indicators27 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Magazine Luiza (Magalu): Brazilian omnichannel retailer spanning home appliances, electronics, furniture, and fashion. Comparable to Pepkor's combination of retail formats (furniture, appliances, electronics) in Brazil via Avenida's geographic positioning.
• Lojas Renner: Brazil's largest value fashion retailer with national footprint. Closest direct peer to Pepkor's Avenida in the Brazilian market, operating with a similar value-focused fashion model targeting mass and middle-income consumers.

Direct peers

• Mr Price Group: South African value-focused apparel, footwear, and homeware retailer operating across southern Africa. Direct competitor to PEP and Ackermans in the mass-market value segment with overlapping customer base and similar product categories.
• Capitec Bank: South African retail bank serving mass-market consumers with low-cost banking products. Highly relevant benchmark for Pepkor's PlusB digital bank initiative given similar target customer segment and value-focused distribution model.
• Truworths International: South African fashion retailer operating Truworths, Identity, and Office London brands. Competes directly with Pepkor's fashion portfolio in the middle-income fashion segment with similar credit-led retail model.
• The Foschini Group (TFG): South African fashion, lifestyle, and jewelry retailer with brands including Foschini, Markham, and American Swiss. Direct competitor to Pepkor's fashion brands (Refinery, Dunns, CODE, Legit) in the mid-market segment.

Broad incumbents

• Massmart Holdings: South African general merchandise wholesaler and retailer operating Game, Makro, Builders Warehouse, and DionWired. Broader incumbent in general merchandise retail overlapping with Pepkor Lifestyle (electronics, appliances, furniture) segments.
• Woolworths Holdings: South African premium food and fashion retailer. Broad incumbent in South African retail operating across clothing, food, and beauty categories with overlapping customer segments though at higher price points than Pepkor.
• Shoprite Holdings: Africa's largest food retailer operating Shoprite, Checkers, and Usave. Broad incumbent in South African retail; Pepkor acquired Shoprite's furniture business for R3.2B, indicating prior operational overlap and counter-positioning in mass-market retail.
• Pick n Pay Holdings: South African food and grocery retailer serving mass-market consumers. Broad incumbent operating in the same South African value-conscious consumer segment as Pepkor, though in food rather than clothing/home.

Market position

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pepkor-retail-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries25 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A8 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pepkor