Furniture, white goods, and electronics retailer Harvey Norman will pay a steady interim dividend of 12 cents a share after an indifferent performance in the six months to December.
In fact, the update was disappointing with the retailer reporting the slowdown in first-half sales had spilled over into 2019 with sales growth vanishing. Despite that warning, the shares rose 1.1% to $3.60.
The company yesterday reported a $222 million half-year profit after tax, up 7.3% from the same period last year.
The higher profit was struck on a 1.7% fall in sales in Australia from its network of 195 Australian Harvey Norman, Domayne and Joyce Mayne franchisee stores to $2.95 billion
That sales decline has continued into the second half, falling 3.2% from January 1 to February 25, the company said.
Harvey Norman’s profit from franchisees which it earns through fees, rent and outgoings fell 5.2% to $158 million.
But sales from the 89 company-owned stores across New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, and Croatia grew 12% to $1.07 billion. Profit from jumped 25% to $77.5 million.
Excluding after-tax property revaluation, losses last year from Harvey Norman’s disastrous investment in the Coomboona diary farm and loss from its retail start-up KEH Partnership, and non-controlling interests, net profit after tax was up by 0.1% to $209.7 million.
Harvey Norman said its underlying profit before tax was up by 0.3% to $296 million – hardly the most upbeat of earnings reports.
