By James Wells
PERTH: Retravision WA has out-performed Harvey Norman in the first half of the financial year by recording like-for-like sales of 28 per cent in the six months to 31 December 2006, as the group’s sales for the period soared to $206 million.
Harvey Norman sales grew by 16.7 per cent overall over the same period, with like-for-like sales increasing by 7.1 per cent.
Like-for-like sales is a method used to measure the performance of existing stores in order to exclude the exaggerated effects from any recent expansion, acquisition or an event that artificially enlarges sales statistics.
Retravision WA CEO Paul Holt told the West Australian newspaper that the mining boom in his state has obviously helped increase sales, but he failed to provide a direct comparison with Harvey Norman statistics by not supplying statistics stating his group’s overall sales increase in percentage terms or turnover from previous half-year periods.
The $206 million turnover for Retravision WA was generated by approximately 50 stores and does not include sales from the 12 former Betta Electrical members which have joined the group under the new Best Buy Electrical banner.
“There is no doubt we are riding a wave of a very strong economy but I think our performance is outpacing the economy,” Holt said in the West Australian article.
“Because of the very strong resources position we find ourselves in and the fact China will continue to buy our mineral resources for a long time, I see a strong market for the foreseeable future.”
Harvey Norman general manager – electrical, David Ackery today told Current.com.au, “to quote our chairman Gerry Harvey – if you are not making money in Western Australia at the moment, you shouldn’t be in business”.