By Aimee Chanthadavong
At the company’s shareholders meeting, it was revealed that JB Hi-Fi delivered a 17.4 per cent increase in sales compared to last year.
According to Terry Smart, JB Hi-Fi CEO, the consolidated results were seen due to the strong growth from the computer/IT, visual, telecommunications and accessories categories.
The company also saw a revenue increase of 17 per cent to $2.73 billion, as well as a growth in net profit after tax of 26 per cent to $118.7 million.
Smart noted the expansion of the JB Hi-Fi retail footprint has contributed to the positive returns.
“During the year we opened 23 new stores. Nine of these stores were in New South Wales, six in Queensland, five in Victoria, one each in South Australia and Western Australia, and one in New Zealand,” he said.
“We are pleased with the performance of stores opened so far this year, with the recently opened tier 2 stores performing as expected. We are on track to open our previously stated guidance of 18 JB Hi-Fi stores for FY11.”
The company has a target of 210 JB Hi-Fi branded stores, consisting of 160 Tier 1 large format stores and 50 smaller format Tier 2 stores.
Smart concluded that the overall strength of the economy, low levels of unemployment and a strong product assortment should underpin a successful Christmas trading period.
“Given the fact that we’ve seen trading improve from July when there were negative comps then, we now have positive comps and that gives us heart that the economy is improving,” he said.
“We remain cautious with that busy lead up period [to Christmas], however we have plans in place where we’re gearing for a reasonable return.”