The latest sales results from retail giant Harvey Norman suggest that retail sales are holding up even as the affect of the Government’s cash handouts fades.
In Australia, sales for the three months ended 30 September increased 5.8% from the previous corresponding period.
Like-for-like sales (which strip out the impact of store openings and closures) were up 4.6%, although the company did not release information about the state of margins, which have been under pressure for the last 12 months.
Across Harvey Norman’s total business (Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia and Ireland, but excluding Singapore) were $1.5 billion during the September quarter. That’s an increase of 4.3% overall and an increase of just 2.1% on a like-for-like basis.
Earlier this week, JB Hi-Fi announced the company’s comparable store sales for the three months to 30 September were up 8.4% and “in line with expectations”.
JB H-Fi expects sales to grow 20% to $2.8 billion in 2009-10.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
