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Grocery retailer Magnit enjoyed a positive third quarter of the year, with net profit coming in at R2.96bn (€70.3m), up on the R2.6bn (€62.5m) average forecast made by Reuters analysts.

However, the group's nine-month profit dropped by 2.7 per cent to R6.98bn (€166m) from R7.17bn (€170m) last year.

Sales for the January-September period grew 46 per cent to R240.2bn (€5.7bn) on the back of 712 new store openings, growing selling space by over 40 per cent year-on-year.

In addition, the group is set to invest a record R53.5bn (€1.3bn) on opening a further 1,000 outlets over the next 12 months, financed by bank loans and domestic bonds.