Despite impact of Dick Smith collapse.
David Jones lifted adjusted first-half sales 4%, according to its South African parent company, Woolworths Holdings Limited.
Woolworths Holdings says sales growth took a hit from the absence of Dick Smith’s electronics concession and the timing of Boxing Day, but sales were up once those factors had been accounted for.
“David Jones´ growth was affected by the timing of Boxing Day, which falls into the second half of this year as well as last year´s termination of the Dick Smith electronics concession. This negatively impacted sales growth by 2.7% and 1.6% respectively. Adjusting for both, sales were 4.0% higher than the prior year, in Australian dollar terms. Retail space grew by a net 3.4%,” the update said.
Group sales for the first 26 weeks of FY17 increased by 6.7% over the previous year.