date:Feb 14, 2014
fit gauge in South Africa and exclude certain one-off items.
Retailers in Africa's biggest economy are struggling to grow sales at a faster pace as consumers rein in spending due to high personal debt, unemployment and rising fuel and transport prices.
But Woolworths, similar in style and products to Britain's Marks Spencer, is faring better as most of its customers are from the high-income category.
Sales rose 16.2 percent to 19.382 billion rand ($1.76 billion) compared with the same period