The contrast with the attitude from Gerry Harvey at Harvey Norman (HVN) to the Woolies attitude was quite telling.
After three tough years, Harvey Norman surprised on the upside, reporting its first profit growth in three years, thanks mostly to the rebound in home construction and sales.
Net profit by jumped 48.9% to $211.7 million, well above market predictions of $203 million.
An impairment charge of $11.6 million for the company’s property holders cut the bottom line, meaning the real result would have topped $220 million.
But that charge was a big improvement on the $59 million cost in 2012-13.
Sales from Harvey Norman’s company-owned stores jumped 14.4% to $1.51 billion (there were five new outlets), while sales from franchised stores rose by just 1.14% to $4.77 billion as eight stores in Australia were closed.
Group earnings before interest and tax rose by 44.4% to $337.5 – the first EBIT growth in three years – to the rebound in earnings from Australia and New Zealand and smaller losses in Ireland.
Harvey Norman lifted its full year dividend from 9¢ to 14¢ a share.
And the shares surged 7.9% on Friday and around 16% for August as a whole.
HVN 1Y – Harvey Norman profit jumps
It was a very different approach from Mr Harvey compared with Woolies.
Of course, as a major shareholder, he benefited from the higher dividend and share price, but then he had seen the value of his holding slip over the past couple of years.
