Spar has cut its interim dividend by 6%, although it has managed to grow revenue and profit during what is a tough trading environment in South Africa. Spar reported that revenue for the six months to the end of March has grown to $3.7bn and profit was up by 10% to $69.4m.

Southern Africa, where revenue increased by 4.9% to R32.5bn ($2.48bn), contributed 68% of the group’s revenue. This performance has been driven by alcoholic drinks sales, offsetting weak performance in other categories: the group’s Tops liquor stores increased sales by 9.1% to R5.2bn ($400m).

In Southern Africa, Spar has added 72 new stores and had 2,069 stores at the end of March 2017. It has also refurbished 89 stores during the same six month reporting period.

Spar’s Integrated Annual Report can be found in full here.