Outdoors and automotive retailer Super Retail Group has joined Coles in warning that its sales may start to slow in coming months as vaccines take hold and government stimulus spending eases.
But for the time being the Brisbane-based company is not seeing any signs of a major slowdown (unlike Coles – see separate story).
The strong results on Wednesday confirmed earlier upbeat guidance from the company.
The company, which owns Supercheap Auto, Rebel Sports, BCF and Macpac chains reported a 30.5% jump in comparable sales for the first seven weeks of the second half, driven by a huge 71.2% rise in sales at camping retailer BCF. Coles though saw its same store sales growth halve to 3.3% from around 8%.
Total sales for the half rose 23% to $1.78 billion, with online sales nearly doubling to a record $237.4 million.
The company said that it fulfilled over 2 million online orders during the half and increased the membership of its online loyalty club by adding 700,000 more members than in the December, 2019 half.
The company upped its interim dividend 73% to 33 cents a share.
Despite that the shares fell nearly 5% to $11.12 yesterday but then rebounded to end 2% higher at $11.81 as investors realised the slowdown isn’t happening, yet.
Statutory earnings after tax for the December half tripled to $172.8 million.
The company said its group segment EBITDA jumped 95% to $311.4 million. Underlying NPAT also jumped 139% to $177.1 million.
“We are pleased with a first-half financial performance characterised by robust top-line growth, higher gross margin and strong operating leverage,” chief executive Anthony Heraghty said in a statement with the results.
“Our omni-retail capability has been instrumental in enabling the Group to pivot towards shifting consumer spending habits and deliver profitable growth, underpinned by strong digital sales.
“Outdoor apparel retailer Macpac was the only segment which struggled during the half as sales fell 5.3 per cent, continuing a long-running decline for the brand.”
The Group says it has no bank debt and a cash position of $416.8 million at the end of December.
