HomeChoice International PLC (HIL) is an investment holding company incorporated in Malta and listed on the JSE Limited. Through its operating subsidiaries, HomeChoice and FinChoice, the group sells innovative homewares merchandise, personal electronics and loan products to the rapidly expanding middle-income market in southern Africa through mail order (catalogue), electronic channels (Internet and mobile phone) and call centres.
The group was restructured during 2014 to facilitate expansion outside South Africa, a further step towards achieving its ambitions of becoming a pan-African retailer. HIL was established as an offshore holding company and was listed in the General Retailers sector on the JSE Limited in December 2014 with a market capitalisation of R3 billion.
The group has 3 operating segments:
RETAIL
HomeChoice is an omni-channel home shopping retailer offering an extensive range of household textiles and homeware merchandise on credit through a convenient shopping experience, together with a home delivery service. The product offering has broadened under the FoneChoice brand to include personal electronics.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
FinChoice is a niche provider of unsecured personal loan products to HomeChoice customers with good credit records. FinChoice leverages the HomeChoice customer database and marketing platforms to acquire loan customers at low cost and predictable repayment behaviour. The business focuses on short term and low-value loans.
PROPERTY
The group owns the head office building and a centralised distribution centre in Cape Town, as well as additional land adjacent to the head office which is currently being developed into a new call centre facility.