As SA’s electricity supply crisis intensifies, retailers continue to count the cost of power interruptions, with Foschini owner TFG saying on Tuesday it lost more than 130 000 trading hours during its first half because of load shedding.
In a trading statement for the six months ended September, the group said that its division TFG Africa, under which its South African business is housed, lost about 99 000 trading hours during the second quarter due to lack of electricity. This is four-and-a-half times worse than last year, with disruptions to trading coming even as SA consumers struggle with surging energy and food costs, which is eroding their spending power.