Harvey Norman’s first-half results have fallen slightly short of expectations, according to Citi analyst Adrian Lemme. The company reported an underlying profit of $373 million, which is less than the consensus expectation of $380 million. There was also a narrow miss on its interim dividend. Harvey Norman is a major Australian retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications, and consumer electrical products. It operates as a franchise, with stores in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Asia.
Franchise EBITDA of $303 million was slightly below estimates due to weaker system sales. Lemme noted that international results were mixed, with New Zealand outperforming expectations by 11 per cent. However, Asia performed in line with forecasts, while the company experienced start-up losses of $10 million in the UK.
January trading figures indicate that Australian franchise like-for-like sales increased by 3.6 per cent. This figure is below the consensus expectation of 5.7 per cent. As a result of these figures, Lemme said, “We expect slight downward revisions to FY26 consensus earnings estimates.” Shares in Harvey Norman were last trading down by 6.8 per cent.
