Department store David Jones delivers positive growth

24 Aug '12

2 min read

David Jones Limited (DJS) reported Total Sales for the fourth quarter (4Q12) of the 2012. Financial Year (FY12) being the period 29 April 2012 to 28 July 2012 of $455.8 million. This represents a decline of 1.3% on 4Q11 (Total Sales: $462.1 million). There were no differences between Total and Like-for-Like (LFL) Sales in 4Q12.

Total Sales for the year ended 28 July 2012 were $1.868 billion, which represents a decline of 4.6% on the prior year. On an LFL basis Sales in FY12 declined by 4.3%. Full details of the Company's Sales performance are set out in Annexure A.

David Jones CEO Mr Paul Zahra said, “In the quarter we decreased the duration of our Winter Clearance by two weeks. This is consistent with our strategy to reduce the length of our discount events and to focus on new inventory.”

The best performing categories in 4Q12 were Womenswear, Beauty, Menswear, Shoes and Accessories. The Home and Electrical categories continued to be challenging. On a State-by-State basis the best performing states in the quarter were Victoria, the ACT and Western Australia, all of which delivered positive growth. The Company’s performance in Queensland was adversely impacted in the quarter by the Toowong Village store refurbishment.

The Company also commenced the refurbishment of the Ground and Lower Ground Floors of the Elizabeth Street store (NSW) in July.

The Company has addressed the excess inventory issue it faced in FY12 and is well positioned with new inventory for the start of FY13.

Mr Zahra said, “Whilst trading conditions continued to be challenging throughout the quarter we did see a continued improvement in our sales tracking, with sales in 4Q12 down 1.3%.”

The Company reaffirms its guidance for the 2012 financial year of a 35% to 40% decline in PAT. Mr Zahra said, “We are making good progress in implementing our Future Strategic Direction Plan and look forward to updating the market on our progress at the time of our full year results in September. Whilst the trading environment remains challenging we have a strong business model, a clear business strategy, a strong balance sheet, good cashflows, ownership of our flagship Sydney and Melbourne CBD stores and the best national and international brand portfolio in Australia.”

David Jones

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