Shoprite charged with anti-competitive behaviour

Shoprite and its subsidiary Computicket have been charged with anti-competitive behaviour.

On Thursday, South Africa’s Competition Commission said it also recommended a fine, sending the retailer’s shares down more than four percent.

In a statement, the commission said Shoprite and the event ticket seller had signed exclusive agreements that gave Computicket the ability to discriminate between large and small customers on prices and forced third parties to engage with Computicket, excluding its competitors.

“The Commission has asked the Tribunal to impose an administrative penalty of 10 percent of Computicket and Shoprite Checkers annual turnover,” the commission said.

Shoprite was not immediately available to comment.

Shares in the country’s biggest supermarket chain fell more than 4 percent after the announcement, but had recovered to 183 rand, a decline of 1.84 percent, by 1037 GMT.