Briscoe soars on higher sales, profit forecast

Shares in Briscoe Group jumped 9 per cent this morning after the retailer reported higher quarterly sales and forecast a rise in first half profit.

The shares rose 11c to $1.32 by midday -- a 7-1/2 month high -- after the owner of the Briscoes Homeware and Rebel Sports stores said unaudited sales for the three months to July 31 were up 11.8 per cent at $79.8 million.

Gross margins were also sharply higher than the same period a year earlier. On a same store basis group sales for the quarter were up 7 per cent.

Briscoe said it expects its after tax profit to be "satisfactorily ahead of that reported for the first half of last year".

Today's result marks a turnaround for the company, which in March reported a 21 per cent fall in annual net profit as poor weather dampened summer sales.

Briscoes Homeware sales for the quarter increased by 13.45 per cent to $53.7 million, while Rebel Sport sales rose by 8.55 per cent to $26.1 million.

On a same store basis, Briscoes Homeware sales increased by 8.91 per cent for the quarter while Rebel Sport sales were 2.31 per cent ahead of last year.

The July quarter sales figures take unaudited group sales for the six months ended July 31 to $154.4 million, an increase of 11.33 per cent on the first half of last year.

- NZPA