Losses climb for parent of Mitre 10, boss upbeat on economy turning

Mitre 10 has recorded more losses in its latest year. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The parent of Mitre 10 has recorded more losses in its latest year but chief executive Andrea Scown indicated confidence in an economic upswing and says the chain is still popular with customers.

Accounts lodged with the Companies Office yesterday showed the operations of Albany-headquartered corporate head office Mitre 10 (New Zealand) recorded an after-tax loss of $98.9m for the year to June 30.

Scown told BusinessDesk it had been a tough few years, but the cooperatively-owned chain was emerging from the recession with its retail market share intact and trade market share growing.

“Kiwis have continued to shop at Mitre 10,” Scown said.

Andrea Scown. Photo / Dean Purcell

The accounts are not for the retailing trading operations of the stores, only for the head office at 67 Corinthian Dr on the North Shore.

Last year, the Business Herald published Power List: who owns Mitre 10, our biggest garden, DIY and hardware chain?

That showed Mitre 10′s largest trading operation was Riviera Hardware Holdings which owned nearly 6% of Mitre 10.

Riviera’s stores are Mitre 10 Mega Albany, Mitre 10 Mega New Lynn, Mitre 10 Mega Warkworth, Mitre 10 Whangaparāoa and the $30m Mitre 10 Mega Silverdale.

Riviera’s accounts are unavailable to the public, but the corporate head office does publish its accounts.

That showed the latest head office loss of $98.9m was up on 2023′s $50.7m loss.

Revenue was down from $315m to $267m but gross profit remained fairly stable, from 2023′s $121m to $120m in the 2024 year.

The cost of sales fell from $194m to $147m but finance expenses rose from $45m to $54m.

One of the reasons for head office losses in the past few years was a transformational IT upgrade.

Bank borrowings rose to $161.8m, up on the $68.5m previously.

“The higher debt level resulted from significant expenditure in the customisation and configuration of cloud-based software,” auditors PwC noted.

Andrew Smith is Mitre 10's chairman. Photo / Alex Burton

The auditors also cited disruptions to the national Mitre 10 operations from the IT upgrade.

In February, the Herald reported how the head office had suffered problems with a new system that delayed payments to some suppliers.

In a letter, the home improvement chain thanked its suppliers for “ongoing patience” on payments while acknowledging the situation was “not ideal”.

Mitre 10 is now chaired by Christchurch’s Andrew Smith, named as the new chief earlier this year after the southern Martin Dippie stood down after 10 years in the role.

Smith is a powerful retailer in his own right with Smiths Hardware (previously known as Upper Riccarton Hardware) of Christchurch the second-largest shareholder in the group, owning around 378,184 shares, 3.99%.

Companies Office records show head office operation of the company Mitre 10 (New Zealand) has eight directors including Cam Caithness of Riviera Hardware Holdings, Tricia Indo, managing director and owner-operator of Mitre 10 Mega Kāpiti, chairman Andrew Smith of Christchurch, David Jackson, accountant and an independent director previously chairman of Ernst & Young and Napier’s Stephen Ricketts of Mitre 10 Mega Napier and Hastings.

Head office accounts are published publicly because the business has an extensive shareholding list.

Riviera is the largest shareholder, followed by Christchurch’s Smiths Hardware, then Lower Hutt’s Nees Hardware and Building Supplies, Tauranga’s Juted Holdings, Ashburton’s W. H. Collins & Co, Grove Hardware of Auckland, Scott & Ricketts of Hastings, Jacks Hardware and Timber of Dunedin, Hamilton Hardware Retail and Hargreaves & Ricketts of Westgate.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.