Lower-tier brand cull pays off for Briscoe

Briscoe Group thumbed its nose yesterday to talk of a recession, revealing a 10.5 per cent leap in its first-quarter sales.

"We're not talking about that around here," said an upbeat Rod Duke, managing director of the Briscoes Homeware and Rebel Sport stores.

Sales of $82.3 million for the three months to April 30 were "just a little better than we thought", and 10.5 per cent ahead of the same quarter last year, he said.

On a same-store basis, sales were 5 per cent ahead of last year.

At Briscoes Homeware, sales rose 11 per cent to $54.3 million, while Rebel Sport sales rose 9 per cent to $28.1 million.

On a same-store basis, sales were up 4.5 per cent at Briscoes Homeware and 5.8 per cent at Rebel.

The improvement had come across the board, with no outstanding categories, said Duke.

New strategies put in place two years ago to reduce end-of-season stock had paid off. Culling lower-tier brands meant not having to "slash and burn" product at the end of each season.

"So basically what's happened is average transaction value has accelerated, we're not on sale as much as we've had to be in the past to get rid of stock and as a consequence, our gross margin is accelerating as well."

However, a "normal, cold winter" would be wonderful to boost winter season sales, said Duke.

"Whilst it's fair to say we've had a pretty good first quarter, quite frankly it would have been far, far better had we had some decent rain.

"You used to be able to set your clock by the end of March, the weather would get cold and wet, but boy, hasn't the weather been nice recently?"

Despite Briscoes' good start to the year, Duke was concerned that rising fuel prices would have an impact. "From my point of view, and history will tell you, when fuel prices start to hit the average guy on the street every time he fills up with petrol, it does adversely affect the retail business.

"But fortunately, we're not seeing it right now ourselves, which probably means, maybe, our customers just like the sort of stuff we've done in recent times and maybe we're just getting the market share."

Shares in Briscoe Group closed up 4c to $1.47 last night, against a year-high of $1.48 and a low of $1.18.