Groceries help lift Warehouse sales to record

Grocery and homeware shoppers propelled The Warehouse’s store sales to a record $414.6 million in the first quarter, up 39.0 per cent on the year-ago quarter.

The discount retail chain said customers shopped for value. Grocery sales were up 76.2 per cent and homeware sales up 32.2 per cent over the quarter.

Chief executive Nick Grayston said the global economic environment continued to be volatile and unpredictable and local conditions were seeing New Zealanders having to make challenging trade-offs as they managed their household budgets.

For the group — which includes franchises such as Noel Leeming and Torpedo 7 — first quarter sales came to $764.7m, up 21.2 per cent on Q1 last year.

Sales were also up 12.3 per cent on the first quarter of its 2020 ( July) financial year — the last pre-Covid comparative period.

Foot traffic rose 61.4 per cent across all brands as customers returned to the store.

Group gross profit margin was 32.3 per cent, down from 32.9 per cent a year earlier.

The year-ago quarter was hit hard by Covid-19 lockdowns from August 18, 2021.

Grayston said the result was a positive start to the 2023 financial year and continued the momentum 2022’s second half.

Warehouse Stationery also had a strong quarter with sales of $56.9m, up 18.0 per cent, but a fall of 9.7 per cent compared with the pre-Covid quarter.

Noel Leeming sales were $246.6m, up 3.3 per cent, and up 9.6 per cent on the preCovid quarter. Torpedo7 sales were $37.4m, up 9.4 per cent and up 57.1 per cent on the pre-Covid period. The Warehouse is due to hold its annual meeting on November 25.