Clicks warehouse system delay wipes out about R175m in sales

Clicks Group reported a material impact on retail performance after delays in the rollout of its warehouse management system (WMS) at its Cape Town distribution centre disrupted product availability across stores in the Western and Eastern Cape, particularly during the critical festive trading period. The disruption is estimated to have reduced retail turnover by approximately R175 million (0.9%) of sales, before availability levels recovered to target by the end of February 2026. Clicks, the largest retail pharmacy in South Africa, released itsfinancial resultsfor the year ended February 2026 on Friday, revealing it made a turnover of R24.8 billion.

The retailer acknowledged that it could have achieved higher turnover, but the delay in implementing the warehouse system hampered its performance. “Against a background of constrained consumer spending and internal systems challenges, Clicks delivered a resilient performance, with pharmacy sales increasing by 8.6% and retail pharmacy market share strengthening to 24.9% from 24.2% in the prior period,” said the retailer on Friday. “Retail turnover was impacted by delays in the implementation of the warehouse management system (WMS) at the Clicks distribution centre in Cape Town, which reduced product availability in Western Cape and Eastern Cape stores, particularly over the festive season.

“Product availability improved steadily and returned to targeted levels by the end of February 2026.” Clicks also acknowledged that retail trading was further impacted by aggressive discounting by competitors over the festive season. However, it is not all sad news. Group trading profit increased by 7.4% to R2.3 billion, and the group’s trading margin was maintained at 9.1%.

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The retail margin increased to 10.3% from a normalised 10.2% in the prior period. UPD’s trading margin was 10 basis points lower at 2.5%. Basic earnings per share increased by 8.3% to 653 cents, and headline earnings per share increased by 8.1% to 653 cents, benefiting from share buybacks over the last 18 months.

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