 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| ZSE: EDGR | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 6 September 1929; 95 years ago (6 September 1929) |
| Founder | Sydney Press |
| Headquarters | Johannesburg, CBD Bree street,, |
| Products | Clothing,footwear,accessories,sporting goods |
| Services | clothing retail,homeware retail, stationery retail |
| Revenue | R28.7 billion |
Number of employees | 44,000[1] |
| Parent | Bain Capital |
| Subsidiaries | Edgars Consolidated Department Stores |
| Website | edcon.co.za |
Edcon Limited was aretail company based inJohannesburg,South Africa. Its subsidiaries includedEdgars, adepartment store with 203[2] branches.[3][4] In 2020, the Competition Tribunal approved the sale of the Edgars division toRetailability (pty) Ltd,[5] and Jet toThe Foschini Group.
Edcon Ltd was the leading clothing, footwear and textiles (CFT) retailing group in South Africa trading through a range of retail formats. The first Edgars store was opened on 6 September 1929 in Joubert Street, Johannesburg by Sydney Press.[6]: 106 It was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1949 and opened its first stores outside of South Africa in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (now Eswatini) in 1966-69.[7] Since then, the Company had grown to ten retail brands trading in (as of 2014) over 1400 stores in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
In 1982 the company, still known as Edgars, was acquired bySouth African Breweries. It launched its Red Square retail chain in 1996 and acquired the struggling stationery retailerCNA in 2002 for R130 million.[8] The company acquired the houseware retailer Boardmans in 2004 for R94 million.[9]
Edcon Financial Services provided credit facilities and financial services products to the Group's over 4 million cardholders. In November 2015, according to reports, Edcon Limited referred to the National Consumer Tribunal.[10] In October 2017, it was reported that Edcon rewarded its customers with a revitalised ''thank U'' customer reward programme.[11]
Bain Capital concluded aprivate equity deal that delisted the group from theJohannesburg Stock Exchange in 2007.[12] Following the delisting the company experienced numerous challenges.
In early 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, the company ceased to pay rents for its retail locations while theresultant lockdowns in South Africa prevented businesses from operating.[13] The group has subsequently gone into Business Rescue with a number of their subsidiaries being sold off to other Fashion Retail Holding Companies.
Following the private equity takeover by Bain Capital, Edcon had a succession of CEOs, lost significant market share, and struggled with an oversupply of leased floorspace. This was partly due to an increase incheaper imported clothing and the increasing move toonline shopping by customers.[14]
In 2016 the company recorded a net debt of R24.7 billion and was temporarily taken over by debtors to avoid financial collapse.[15] This resulted in the closure of 253 stores by 2018 as part of a recovery plan[16] and by 2017 the company had reduced its level of net debt to R4.2 billion. In July 2018 Edcon announced that it was closing its Boardmans homeware and La Senza stores.[15]
In January 2018, Grant Pattison became CEO.[17]
In December 2018 it was reported in theSunday Times[18] that Edcon and its subsidiaries were on the brink of financial collapse and was seeking a deal with mall owners to reduce rental payments.[19] Edcon disputed the reports but did state that it was working towards eliminating company debt and a deal to prevent the closure of its stores.[20][21] The possible 44,000 direct and additional 100,000indirect job losses should the company stop trading was used by trade unionSAFTU to criticise PresidentRamaphosa's economic policies.[14][22]
Following the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa in 2020, Edcon announced that they had filed for business rescue and that approximately 5000 jobs were on the line. On the 8th of September 2020, The Competition Tribunal approved the sale of Edgars to Durban Based, private fashion companyRetailability,[23] who owns three other brands, Legit, Style and Beaver Canoe. The Competition Tribunal also approved the sale of JET toThe Foschini Group saving an additional undisclosed number of jobs in the process. The CNA Group was sold to a Mauritian Holding Company.
| Brand | Market | Revenue[24] (2015) in millions of Rands | Operating Profit[24] (2018) in millions of Rands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edgars | fashion | 13 929 | 1 305 |
| Edgars Zimbabwe | fashion | 799 | 101 |
| CNA | stationery | 2 011 | 35 |
| Discount/Jet | fashion | 10 771 | 1 220 |
| Red Square | fashion | - | - |
| Prato | fashion | CLOSED | CLOSED |
| Boardmans | homeware | CLOSED | CLOSED |
Defined by the target markets served, all retail business is structured under two divisions:
Thestock of the company is listed on theJohannesburg Securities Exchange andZimbabwe Stock Exchange, and is part of theZimbabwe Industrial Index.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Companies based inGreater Johannesburg | |||
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