Mitre 10 first half year sales 'strong' | Stuff.co.nz

Hardware chain Mitre 10 says half year sales have performed "strongly" as more Kiwis chose to tackle building and do-it-yourself projects.

The firm, which calls its self the country's biggest home improvement and gardening chain, reported a 9.1 per cent increase in total revenue for the six months ending December 31 compared to the same period a year ago.

On a same-store basis, sales rose 8.2 per cent.

The hardware co-operative said demand was notably stronger over December, with total sales up almost 10 per cent versus the same month in the previous year.

On a year-on-year basis, December sales of building products rose 23.4 per cent, hardware and gardening rose 7.6 per cent, and renovation and d?cor product lines rose 6.5 per cent.

The results match electronic transaction data from Paymark for December, which showed consumer spending on hardware items rose 9.2 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year.

Paymark processes about 75 per cent of all credit and debit card transaction in New Zealand.

"Our growth is a nice balance from new stores and existing store comparable sales and we continue to take market share in the all-important trade sector," said chief executive John Hartmann.

The co-operative said its large format Mitre 10 MEGA outlets, which compete with the Warehouse and Bunnings, rose 14 per cent in six month period, predominantly driven by network expansion. On a same store basis, sales rose 10 per cent.

Hartmann said the firm planned to continue to expansion of the retail network with another eight stores planned by the end of 2014.

In October 2012, Mitre 10 announced full year sales figures of $858.4 million and a rebate to members of more than $45m.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8175236/Mitre-10-first-half-sales-strong

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