As Dick Smith’s profit contracts, prompting CEO Nick Abboud to take the red pen to prices, his direct competitor JB Hi-Fi CEO Richard Murray, is exhibiting a calm demeanour. This comes despite Murray’s concession yesterday that the appliance market will remain aggressive as some retailers “drive market share in the lead up to Christmas.”
Murray was releasing JB’s first-quarter results which saw performance lift total sales of 5.3%, with comparable sales up 3.7%. The retailer also reaffirmed its full-year sales guidance of around $3.85 billion.
However, in a departure from previous AGM’s JB didn’t provide an update on October’s performance which would have been the month when the adverse publicity from the Mt Ommaney situation could have impacted sales.
In the year ahead, Murray (pictured) confirmed that JB is expecting to open up to eight new stores, convert up to 16 existing stores to JB Hi-Fi Home and introduce small appliances into 22 existing stores.
Full-year capital expenditure is seen in the range of $50 million to $55m.