Postie Plus shares jump 27% on higher third quarter sales

Monday 11th May 2009

Postie Plus Group shares jumped 27% after the clothing and babyware chain part-owned by Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron posted a gain in third-quarter sales and said its margins widened.

The retailer increased sales 7.3% to $25.4 million in the three months ended March 31, it said in a statement. The shares jumped to 38 cents from 30 cents Friday, with a higher-than-average 230,000 shares changing hands.

Managing director Ron Boskell said the company was on track to “deliver a modest profit” for the year.

Retailers with a New Zealand customer-base, like the Warehouse Group and Hallenstein Glasson Holdings, have “had pretty good rebounds of late,” said Craig Brown, who helps manage the equivalent of $1 billion for ING New Zealand. “The market’s generally starting to look through the current short-term noise and perhaps things are getting better.”

Postie Plus narrowed its first-half loss to $2.7 million from $2.9 million the previous year after it shed its unprofitable Arbuckles chain, replaced inefficient warehousing and revamped its Postie+ stores. In December the company said it was turning around the previous year’s losses, but the retail market was still fragile.

Boskell said Postie Plus faces “the most important retail quarter for PPGL in a difficult retail climate.”

Data out today showed the value of electronic card sales in retail industries rose 0.3% in April, suggesting a pick-up in the sector over the last two months, according to Statistics New Zealand. Official data for the month’s retail sales month will be released on Friday.

Briscoe Group, operator of homeware, Rebel sports goods, Urban Loft and Living & Giving chains, last week upgraded its first-half profit to $3.1 million.

Warehouse rose 1.3% to $3.90 today while Briscoe was unchanged at 94 cents. The NZSE Consumer Index climbed 2.7%.

Businesswire.co.nz

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