An analysis of annual integrated reports to determine the corporate objective of companies focused on the apparel retail sector in South Africa.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse the annual reports of companies in the apparel retail sector to determine their corporate objective and examine profitability. The corporate objective is determined using content analysis. The study focuses on three dominant economic models namely; the shareholder value model, the stakeholder model and the entity maximization and sustainability models. The study then examines the profitability of the companies using profitability ratios. There are three distinct stages to this study. The first stage of the study begins by examining existing literature on the shareholder value model, the stakeholder model and the entity maximization and sustainability model with the purpose of being able to identify themes and major identifiers of each model. The next stage of the study then attempts to best fit the established models using content analysis of the company’s annual integrated reports. The study uses reports over a five year timespan (2012-2016). Over these five years both financial and non-financial aspects of the annual integrated reports were studied. The companies selected include Truworths Int. Ltd, Mr Price Group Ltd, The Foschini Group Ltd and Holdsport Ltd. All the selected companies are listed on the JSE and therefore are required to conform to the strict reporting requirements determined by the stock exchange. Finally the study uses the financial statements to examine the profitability of the companies selected using various profitability ratios. The study then concludes by determining which model performs best based on the financial ratios examined in the final stage of analysis. The content analysis revealed that the dominant model in the apparel retail sector was the entity maximisation and sustainability model. However, the companies in the apparel retail sector all followed different variants of the model, Truworths focussed on the employee, Holdsport on shareholders with a differentiation strategy, Mr Price on shareholders with a low cost strategy and Foschini on the customer. The profitability ratio analyses revealed that Truworths performed the best followed in second place by Mr Price. In third position was Holdsport and Foschini was in fourth position. Therefore it was concluded that, over the period from 2012 to 2016, the Truworths entity maximisation and sustainability model with a focus on employees performed the best.