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Choppies: Chicken Was Hot, You Got Cooked — Now the Chips are being Served

Updated: May 5


Pic: Choppies

  • If you held the shares and the company cooked it's chicken—only one stayed hot. This is a 13-year look at how a P10,000 investment in Choppies lost its crunch and what it means.


Choppies may have fried your P10,000 investment to a crisp, just like their famous chicken.

But could the scraps left behind end up being more useful than an everyday box of crispy, crunchy golden lunch with the resumption of dividends after 6 years?


Let’s Crunch the Numbers!



Source of information: BSE, Choppies Annual Reports

In January 2012, when Choppies listed, a share was worth P1.40, according to data from the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE).

 

If you had thrown P10,000 into their fryer, you would have picked up a crispy 7,143 shares (pieces) of the company, founded by the retail giant Ramachandran Ottapathu.

 

Your First Investment (2012)


  • Price: P1.40 (BSE)

  • Shares Bought: 7,143 shares

  • Investment Value: P10,000

 

Finger-Lickin’ Good (2015)

 

By 13 August 2015, the share price had climbed to P5.50, according to the BSE.If you’d simply held your shares and resisted cashing out for a celebratory chicken combo, your investment would have fattened up to P39,286—a juicy return of +293%.

 

The original P10,000 investment had nearly quadrupled in three years.


What Gets Fried Too Long Eventually Burns (27–28 August 2018)


By late August 2018:


  • 27 August: Price drops to P1.69 (BSE) → portfolio shrinks to P12,072.


The Real Frying Began


  • 28 August: Huge collapse—price crashes to P0.40 (BSE) → portfolio was now just P2,857.

 

26 October 2018—Small Recovery

 

Choppies shares recover slightly to P0.70 (BSE):


  • Portfolio worth: P5,000

However, this was still 50% below your original P10,000 investment. Nowhere near what you ordered.

 

26 April 2025

 

Fast forward to today, April 2025:


  • Choppies price: P0.54

  • Portfolio worth: P3,857

You’ve lost about 61% of your original investment after holding for 13 years. While your original P10,000 was cooked to a crisp, at least you would have been offered a meal—but not exactly a feast to write home about: lean dividends.


Source: Choppies Annual Reports

Holding on through all the ups, downs, and deep fries, your total dividend income across the 13 years would amount to just P1,342.96—not exactly a feast.

 

When The Fried Chips Never Showed Up

 

A dividend drought lasted from 2018 to 2023, a six-year dry spell where you would have gotten nothing—not even a crispy crumb.


The first payout since 2017 finally came in 2024, hinting at what could be a comeback, especially now that Choppies has exited several loss-making markets.


Dividend Highlights:


  • Total dividends received (2012–2025): P1,342.96

  • 2018–2023: No dividends (six-year drought)

  • 2024: Dividend returns, possibly signaling recovery

So after 13 years, your P10,000 investment has turned into P5,200.18—still a decline of P4,799.82, or 48% decline. 


Your investment might have been deep-fried and left to cool on the shelf, but maybe—just maybe—the kitchen is heating up again as Choppies resumed dividend pay. This follows exits from its loss-making operations.


For the last six months of 2024, Choppies declared a P0.016 per share dividend which in your case is P114.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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