Strong consumer demand has boosted “record sales” for electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi according to preliminary unaudited first-half results.
In an ASX announcement, the business reported group-wide sales were up 8.6 per cent to A$5.3 billion supported by elevated demand for electronics and home appliances and “well-executed” Black Friday and Boxing Day promotional periods.
While EBIT in New Zealand fell by 26.5 per cent, the JB Hi-Fi Australia division improved by 16.7 per cent and The Good Guys by 9.8 per cent.
Group-wide tax-paid profit for the December half was $329.9 million, up 14.6 per cent with EBIT of $479.2 million, up 14 per cent. Online sales were $752.1 million, representing 14.2 per cent of group sales.
In Australia, sales grew 9.1 per cent to $3.6 billion while its New Zealand operations registered NZ$160.6 million, up 16.1 per cent. The Good Guys subsidiary achieved $1.5 billion in sales, up 7.3 per cent.
The company did not go into any detail on the reason behind the lower margins in New Zealand.
Group CEO, Terry Smart, attributed the record sales and earnings in this half to the “normalised” trading conditions following two years of Covid-related disruptions.
“As always, a key part of our continued success is our over 13,000 team members and their passion and dedication to looking after our customers’ needs. I would again like to thank them for delivering this outstanding result.”
The group will release its audited half-year results on February 13.
- Further reading: JB Hi-Fi posts strong quarterly growth, but year-on-year sales down.
