Sahara Retail Technologies

CFBANQUE Investment confirms the A rating assigned to Sahara Retail Technologies (CEM0177.JO), an operator in the Retail sector based in South Africa. This credit opinion reflects an investment-grade credit profile, with a satisfactory capacity to service its debt and absorb moderate sectoral shocks.

From a fundamental standpoint, the issuer posts an EBITDA margin of 14.7% below comparable peers, which warrants closer monitoring of the cost structure and exhibits a contained net leverage of 0.65x EBITDA, providing comfortable headroom to absorb capital expenditure and debt servicing. With revenues of $8.99B and a market capitalisation of $7.62B, Sahara Retail Technologies commands a significant economic footprint within its domestic market.

Our proprietary models assign a Debt Capacity score of 667/1000, an Investment score of 375/1000 and an ESG & Governance score of 910/1000, reflecting an acceptable debt coverage, a limited investment potential at this stage and governance standards aligned with best market practice.

The Positive outlook reflects our expectation of a gradual improvement in the credit profile over a 12 to 18 month horizon, subject to the execution of the strategic plan communicated by the issuer. This analysis stems from the combined review of our quantitative models and the qualitative judgement of the CFBANQUE Investment rating committee, and may be updated in line with the evolution of fundamentals or the regional macroeconomic environment.