South African fashion retailer The Foschini Group (TFG), will decide next year whether to continue trading in Kenya where it has four stores.
The JSE-listed retailer has 22 different retail brands under its label. In Kenya, it operates Sterns, a contemporary and classic Jewellery shop at the Junction Mall.
It also operates Foschini women’s wear shop, Markham targeting men and a second Sterns store at the Village Market.
However, according to Reuters Africa, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Thunstrom says their brands have been performing poorly in the rest of Africa.
“Closer to home has been better for us. Much less risky and at the moment we’re doing okay,” Thunstrom said.
Thunstrom says they will review economic growth and lease negotiation in Kenya and Ghana which is also affected.
“The other difficulty is, because of where the commodity cycle is, government revenues are massively down in those countries. So you get all sorts of funny tax things coming up where suddenly the VAT rate has increased overnight or you can’t claim the input VAT and your cost of business goes up 20%,” he told reporters on Thursday.
The group has a network of more than 2,100 stores in African countries that include Botswana, Nigeria, Ghana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa.
