Shares in electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi had a big day out yesterday, rising more than 6% to be the best-performed stock in the ASX 300 after a mostly positive trading update was presented to the company’s annual meeting.
The shares rose 6.6% to $36.41 on the news of the update which showed slowing growth in New Zealand, at its Good Guys whitegoods subsidiary in Australia but solid growth in its JB Hi-Fi heartland in Australia.
The Good Guys suffered a drop in sales for the first quarter as a weak housing market continues to impact the company.
Comparable sales for the retailer were down 1.8% for the period, against a 1% increase in the first quarter of the 2019 financial year.
For JB’s New Zealand based stores, sales slowed but stayed positive, with comparable sales up 3.8% compared to a 9.8% increase last financial year.
The company’s main Australian operations were the only division to see comparable sales up on the prior corresponding quarter, increasing 3.7% compared to 3.4% a year earlier.
Full-year forecasts for total group sales of $7.25 billion were maintained.
And not a word in speeches from JBH’s chair and CEO to the meeting about the impact or otherwise from the tax refunds from the ATO that the Federal Government (and the Reserve Bank) expect to help boost household incomes and consumer spending, and in turn push up economic growth.
