Lewis profits rise on sales
LET-DOWN: INSPIRE THE ONLY DIVISION TO REPORT A LOSS OF R13.2 MILLION
Group focuses on online, luxury retail for growth.
Retailer Lewis Group reported a 6.1% rise in its half-year revenue yesterday, driven by strong sales growth in the first quarter. The furniture and appliance retailer, which caters to middleand low-income consumers, said its headline earnings per share for the six months ended September came in at 215 cents, up 18.9% from 180.8 cents last year.
The retail group has had to cope with a weak macroeconomic environment in South Africa, which experienced an economic slowdown in the second quarter.
“The group’s strategy of diversification across target markets and sales channels is expected to continue offering resilience in the constrained consumer spending climate,” the group said in a statement.
The retailer has been diversifying to access higher-income consumers and attract online shoppers.
The group’s merchandise sales grew 6.4% with credit sales up 8.1% and cash sales advanced 4.1%.
United Furniture Outlets (UFO), a luxury furniture retailer owned by the group, posted an 8.8% increase in its sales and an operating profit of R22.6 million.
At the group’s traditional retail brands Lewis, Best Home and Electric, and Beares sales rose 3.7% and operating profit was R201.6 million.
INspire, the omni-channel home shopping retailer, was the only division to report a loss of R13.2 million. This retailer is not expected to break even by the end of the 2019-20 financial year.
Lewis Group said the 18-month-old online platform is a key aspect of its short to medium term expansion plans.
“Our short-term plans are now focused on establishing our omni-channel business INspire and also on expanding UFO,” Lewis CEO Johan Enslin said.
“So as things stand today, we trade successfully out of 39 UFO stores and we believe that we can build that store base to 70 stores and the plan is to complete that roll-out within the next 3-4 years,” Enslin continued.