Pepkor

Pepkor (officially Pepkor Holdings Limited) is a South African investment and holding company, focused on the discount and value consumer retail, and fintech markets. When all of its brands are combined, as of 2025, it is the largest retail operator in Southern Africa by number of stores,^[2] processing around 2 billion transactions per year.^[5]

While the majority of Pepkor's operations are in South Africa, the company also operates in other African countries, as well as Brazil. It manages retail brands that sell predominantly clothing, footwear, and homeware, in addition to household furniture, appliances, consumer electronics, and building materials.

Pepkor's retail brands include PEP, Ackermans, Shoe City, Dunns, Tekkie Town, Refinery, S.P.C.C, CODE, Bradlows, Rochester, Sleepmasters, Incredible Connection, HiFi Corp, and BUCO. As of its 2025 financial year, the company had 6,000 locations.^[2]

Its fintech operations provide financial and telecommunications services to customers in the formal and informal sectors. Its Flash business supports 200,000 small business traders in the informal sector. Pepkor's internally-developed PAXI parcel delivery service leverages its expansive retail store footprint.^[6]

The company was founded in 1965 by Renier van Rooyen. He opened his first chain store, the start of PEP Reef, in 1978.^[7][8] Formerly known as PEP stores, the company was renamed Pepkor Limited in 1982, with PEP stores becoming a subsidiary.^[1]

In 1998, Pepkor acquired Australian retailer Best & Less.^[9]

In 2011, the private equity company Brait bought a 24.6% stake in Pepkor for R4.18 billion, valuing the company at about R17 billion.^[10]

In 2012, Pepkor purchased the Australian department store chain Harris Scarfe from investment company Momentum Capital.^[11]

In November 2014, Steinhoff International acquired Pepkor for US$5.7 billion.^[12]

Pepkor was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in September 2017.^[13][14]

Pepkor expanded into selling affordable mobile phones and sells 12 million cellular handsets annually.^[15]

In February 2022, Pepkor acquired a majority stake in Brazilian retailer Grupo Avenida, marking the company's first foray into Latin America.^[16]

In 2025, Pepkor reported opening its 6,000th store. Of new stores opened during the company's 2025 financial year, 95 were PEP locations, 45 were for PEP Home, and a further 32 were for newly-launched adult womenswear brand Ayana. The company's Ackermans division also entered the menswear market for the first time, and announced plans to enter the cosmetics market in 2026.^[2]

Pepkor's fintech division performed particularly well in the 2025 financial year, with divisional revenue and gross profit increasing by 31.1% and 52.3% respectively. The group sold a total of 13.5 million smartphones during that financial year, accounting for eight out of every ten prepaid smartphones sold in South Africa. The group gained 1.3 million new credit clients, bringing its total number of active A+ credit book clients up to 3.5 million. Furthermore, the group acquired Prudential Authority approval to establish a new South African bank, and acquired Cloudbadger, a fintech platform, to assist with the bank's formation.^[2]

Other acquisitions during 2025 include furniture retail chains OK Furniture and House & Home, and clothing retail chain Legit, Swagga, and Style. The latter added 469 stores to Pepkor's total locations.^[2]

As of 2025, across all of its brands, Pepkor operates over 6,000 stores across Africa and Brazil.^[2]

The clothing retail segment accounts for the vast majority of the group's revenue, at 72%. The company's fintech division generates 15% of its revenue, and a further 13% is generated by the combined categories of furniture, appliances, and electronics.^[17][18]

• Retailing in South Africa