Home and sports retailer Briscoe Group saw same-store sales grow 5.1 per cent during its fourth quarter 2018, with total sales for the period reaching $206 million – an increase of 5.81 per cent compared to the same period of 2017.

The retail group runs the Briscoes Homeware and Living & Giving homeware brands, as well as sporting goods retailer Rebel Sport in New Zealand.

Homeware sales increased to $132.5 million, while sporting goods sales grew to $73.5 million, increases of 5.68 per cent and 6.05 per cent respectively.

“Our product offering and promotional campaigns clearly continued to resonate strongly with customers throughout the quarter which was generally seen by many competing retailers as a difficult period,” Briscoe’s managing director Rod Duke said.

“Consumer spending patterns were a little different this quarter due to the unseasonal December weather, with typical pre-Christmas sales really only starting in the last ten days or so prior to Christmas.”

Over the full year, the retail group expects to see net profit after tax hit a new high of $63 million off the back of full year group sales of $631.9 million – a 4.43 per cent increase over FY17.

Online sales increased 27 per cent over the year, with Duke looking toward to the launch of a new online platform later in 2019.

“We will continue to focus on our online offering while maintaining our proven strategy of adding stores to our network as and when we identify opportunities,” Duke said.