Briscoe's sales leap 15% over Q3, shaping for a strong year

Briscoe Group experienced strong sales over the third quarter. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Retail chain Briscoe Group said its sales surged by 15 per cent in the third quarter to $161.3 million and that the year was shaping up to be a strong one.

Homeware sales increased by 12.28 per cent over the quarter to $98.7m, while sporting goods sales were $62.6m, an increase of 19.48 per cent over the equivalent quarter last year.

Briscoe's year-to-date numbers - covering the period from January 27 to October 25 - showed sales were up 2.35 per cent at $453.7m.

The group's homeware segment increased sales by 1.30 per cent during this period and the sporting goods segment by 4.14 per cent.

Managing director Rod Duke said the significant increase in sales reported for the second quarter had continued into the third.

"After trading interruptions due to Covid-19, we're delighted in the way the group has rebounded to produce consecutive quarterly double-digit sales growth," he said.

"Importantly, this augurs well for continued strong sales as we commence the crucial final quarter."

In September the company a half-year profit of $28.0m, which included $11.5m from the government wage subsidy.

In October, the company's chair Dame Rosanne Meo announced that the group would pay back all of the subsidy.

"It's the right decision for our company to pay back the subsidy given the strong sales recovery we experienced and reduced likelihood of another full national lockdown," Meo said.

"We supported our employees in full throughout this difficult year and there were no redundancies or permanent store closures."

Duke said that repayment of the wage subsidy would affect the company's second-half and full-year results, as would the recent announcement by Kathmandu, in which Briscoe has a stake, that it would not pay a dividend for its July 2020 year.

Last year Briscoe Group received $6.8m in dividends from its investment in Kathmandu.

"However, notwithstanding this, I am optimistic that if the current trading momentum continues, we can still produce a full-year result to the end of January of which we can be extremely proud," Duke said.

"The massive disruption to trading from Covid-19 has produced opportunities for us to re-think the way we construct our promotional activity and also how we process and manage the flow of inventory through the business.

"This is having a very positive impact on gross profit margin."

The group's online business continues to show impressive growth over last year and for the third quarter ending October 25 2020 it represented 16.3 per cent of total group sales.

Duke said he was confident the company could produce a "remarkable" full-year result.

"Just how close we get to achieving last year's profit will depend on how buoyant trading is across the crucial fourth quarter."

For the year to January, Briscoe Group's net profit came to $65.0m, up 2.54 per cent on the previous year.

Briscoe's shares last traded at $4.19, up 15c.