Michael Hill earnings bounce back after hit

AUCKLAND: Michael Hill International’s earnings roared back into life over the first half to December 27, driven by solid growth in samestore sales.

The jewellery retail chain — which has stores in New Zealand, Australia and Canada — said it had brought forward payment of a previously deferred A1.5c (NZ1.6c) interim dividend to January 29 from September 30.

The duallisted company’s fullyear profit to June last year plunged more than 80% due to Covid19driven temporary store closures.

In yesterday’s update, Michael Hill said it expected to report ebit of $A56 million to $A60 million for the first half.

Excluding wage subsidies received, firsthalf earnings were expected to come to $A41 million to $A45 million — 30% to 40% ebit growth compared with the previous corresponding period.

Chief executive Daniel Bracken said the company had had positive samestore sales growth for the Christmas trading period.

Samestore sales were up 6.3% for the half and up 5.6% for the quarter against previous year.

Online sales were up 102%; digital channels now represented 5.8% of total sales, up from 2.8%.

Branded collections represented 38.4% of total product sales for the half, up from 34.4%. — The New Zealand Herald