The address by Briscoe Group’s managing director Rob Duke at its annual general meeting yesterday spotlighted Rebel Sport’s buoyant performance in the face of Briscoes Homeware’s poorer performance.
Overall same store sales increased by 4.94 per cent, gross margin increased from 38.5 per cent to 38.9 per cent, and net profit after tax grew to $39.3 million (including $1.34 million business interruption settlement). Even when this settlement is removed, NPAT grew by 14.19 per cent.
Group sales for the quarter ended April 26 were $119.8 million, 4.33% higher than the $114.8 million reported for the same quarter last year. On a like for like same store basis, sales for the quarter were up 3.24% on the year prior.
Sales for Briscoes Homeware increased by 0.52 per cent to $73.1 million, reflecting an increasingly competitive environment, while sales for Rebel Sport increased 8.44 per cent.
Briscoe Group chief financial officer, Geoff Scowcroft, attributes Rebel Sport’s ongoing success to the group’s owning the sporting goods market in New Zealand in terms of stocking the leading, most sought after brands and offering the biggest range at the best overall value; the expansion of the size of the market as popular sporting goods brands like Adidas and Nike have become part of everyday wear; and the group’s positioning of Briscoe as a sporting goods brand in its own right.
Coupled with new scanning technology the speed of stock flow from back door to shop floor has improved noticeably.
Online sales continued to grow by over 50% for the year, in line with expectation.
Replacement Briscoes and Rebel Sport stores were opened in Wanganui in October. At Coastlands in Wellington the group replaced the Briscoes store with a bigger store adjacent to the existing site and then added a new Rebel Sport store into the original Briscoes location.
These major projects have resulted in attractive, modern stores with shared services and back of house functions which allow it to optimise the use of its resources.
During the year a major refit was completed at the Rebel Sport store at Manukau, which included the creation of the first Under Armour store-in-store concept area in New Zealand. “This is in line with the group’s goal to develop and grow the strength of brands in its stores. Under Armour is an exciting brand which has gained major market share in the US and is showing strong growth in NZ, with big plans for further expansion,” says Duke.
Four Rebel Sport stores benefited from reformatting, which improved customer flow and increased the linear footage available to expand merchandise ranges.
Planned developments include Briscoes and Rebel Sport stores in the new Westgate development in Auckland scheduled to open in March 2016.
The group has just purchased one ha in Silverdale earmarked as the future commercial heart of Hibiscus Coast, catering to a significant forecast population growth in the former Rodney District, a growth rate faster than the adjacent North Shore and the overall Auckland region. “We will build a Briscoes and Rebel Sport stores adjacent to each other and expect them to trade their socks off,” says Duke.
The planned refit at Briscoes Invercargill, the new Rebel Sport store at Hornby and the relocated Briscoes store at Taupo have already been completed to plan and are trading well.
“The relocation of the Briscoes store in Hamilton is near completion and will give the group the key Christmas trading period and its Hamilton based customers a fantastic new offer,” adds Duke.
“Major developments are in the planning stage for the Briscoes store in Tauranga, one of our top turnover stores, and for Briscoes store at Gisborne.”
The Briscoes store at Taranaki St in Wellington will be extended and refitted providing central Wellington customers with a bigger store and much improved car parking. The development at Queenstown remains on track and the group is still planning to open new Briscoes and Rebel stores before the key Christmas trading period.
“There are many differing views as to the outlook for the NZ economy over the next year. Our view is that the retail environment will remain very challenging. Oil prices are currently low. While the NZ$ has strengthened against the AU$, it has significantly weakened against the US$ and economies worldwide are nervously viewing the future,” concludes Duke.
“During periods of uncertainty we believe it is best to focus our energies on looking after the things we can influence, and on implementing initiatives which support profitable growth for the group.”
