By Patrick Avenell
SYDNEY, NSW: Harvey Norman has today reported a solid, though unspectacular, sales result for the nine months to 31 March 2011. Total sales over this period from franchised complexes, commercial divisions and other outlets globally (excluding Singapore) was $4.7 billion — a 1.4 per cent increase in total sales but a 3.5 per cent decrease in like-for-like sales.
Broken down by store location, Slovenia was the best performing country, with a 17.2 per cent increase in year-on-year sales in the 12 months to 31 March 2011. Also performing in the black was Harvey Norman’s main location, Australia, which is up 3 per cent. The only other region to improve was Northern Ireland (UK), in which Harveys’ very small presence improved 5.8 per cent.
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Two regions had total sales decreases year-on-year: New Zealand (-3.1 per cent) and the Republic of Ireland (-1.4 per cent).
Like-for-like sales in Australia were down 2.6 per cent in the year to 31 March 2011. Other regions experiencing decreases in like-for-like sales were New Zealand (-2.4 per cent) and the Republic of Ireland (-1.4 per cent).
Improvements in like-for-like sales included Slovenia (4.4 per cent) and Northern Ireland (UK) (5.8 per cent).
Click here to read about the factors influencing this sales result.