David Jones' flagship Bourke St store in Melbourne. Photo / 123rf
David Jones' flagship Bourke St store in Melbourne. Photo / 123rf
Sales revenue from the New Zealand operations of Australian premium department store chain David Jones has fallen, but the company’s bottom-line result improved, boding well for the Newmarket store.
David Jones (NZ) trades from ASX-listed Scentre Group’s Westfield Newmarket, but the retailer’s sales fell from $33.9 million in the yearto June 24, 2023, to $29m in its latest year.
The total comprehensive result improved lately from a $4.4m loss to an $859,000 loss.
That was due partly to income tax expenses falling from $5m previously to $104,000 in the latest period.
The womenswear section of the David Jones store in Westfield Newmarket. Photo / Snapper Online
The retailer posted its New Zealand accounts with the Companies Office last month.
“The company has a total comprehensive loss of $856k for the period (2023: $4467k) and a current liability position of $17,975k (2023: $17,329k) which includes a (loan) payable to the company’s parent entity, David Jones Pty of $23,424k (2023: $23,894k),” the financial statement says.
Lease expenses rose from $549,999 to $1.2m in the accounts, which cited a 16-year lease liability.
The company paid wages and salaries of $4.06m in 2023, but $3.43m last year.
A David Jones spokesperson told the Herald: “FY24 was a year of investment and consolidation as we continued to progress with our vision 2025-plus strategy. The focus of our investment strategy was innovation: how we evolve our platforms, offerings and experiences to meet the needs of a modern customer in the future. Together with a prudent cost management programme in New Zealand, this has resulted in improved margins for the business”.
Accounts showed finance costs, previously $1.7m, were $1.8m last year.
The Auckland store is on two levels of about 7000sq m, with an escalator between floors. That opened in November 2019, with hundreds of people arriving to see it on opening day.
The department store and supermarket Woolworths are anchors for the mall and big drawcards for Auckland shoppers.
Westfield Newmarket cost $790m to develop, bringing many new retailers here. It had more than 400 international, Kiwi and Australian high-end brands including Carla Zampatti, La Mer, Grown Alchemist, Kenzo, and emerging New Zealand brands Wynn Hamlyn and Harris Tapper.
The exterior of David Jones' Wellington department store. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Its Wellington department store did not survive. In 2021, David Jones signalled a downsize to its physical presence here, saying it would close that store in the iconic Lambton Quay building, which once housed Kirkcaldie & Stains.
That shut in June 2022, about six years after the Woolworths Holdings-owned retail chain first expanded into the market with the store in July 2016.
At the end of 2022, the Herald reported David Jones was being sold to private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners, bringing the iconic Australian business back into Australian ownership.
The vendor was Woolworths Holdings, which struck the deal with Anchorage to buy the business.
David Jones says it has celebrated 186 years of inspiration
“Since we first opened our doors in 1838, David Jones has revolutionised the way Australians shop. Trusted by the world’s most exclusive brands, we are the longest continuously operating department store in the world, offering service and experiences like no other,” it says on its Kiwi website.
Meanwhile, 144-year-old department store Smith & Caughey’s is offering up to 70% off its goods at its in-store clearance sale at 253-261 Queen St.
That business said last year it was in consultation with staff to shut the flagship CBD store and Newmarket.
But it then announced it would keep a portion of the Queen St store operating, downsizing and refined to the ground floor and online.
Chairman Tony Caughey said about 100 staff would stay on and the business had decided to “implement a new reduced format beyond January”.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
