Super Retail shares surge on strong FY25 start
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More news: Super Retail Group shares gained 5.8% to $17.63 by 11:52am AEST due to the company’s strong early FY25 half year update and a 50 cent special dividend.
E&P Capital analyst Kade Madigan said the better-than-expected early trading should trigger consensus upgrades between 1% to 5% but its gross profit margin decline in the second half of FY24 would need to be explored.
Jarden analyst said its FY24 result was solid with EBIT inline.
What they said: “A good result by SUL, and clear the strategy is paying dividends with strong (normalised) cash generation, a positive start to the year and ongoing share gains,” Jarden said.
“We would expect 1H25 consensus to rise on a stronger start to FY25E, with focus on the call being margins and any commentary around success/benefits from recent loyalty initiatives.”
Super Retail notches record sales but profit misses estimates
The news: Supercheap Auto and Rebel owner Super Retail Group reported record full-year sales and declared a special dividend of 50 cents per share, but saw profit tumble as costs surged.
The numbers: Super Retail posted statutory net profit after tax of $240 million, down 9% compared to FY23. Normalised NPAT reduced 11% year on year to $242 million, coming in lower than average analysts' forecasts of $245.1 million, according to Visible Alpha data.
Total sales lifted 2% to the group's best annual result of $3.88 billion, as online sales increased by 9% to $485 million.
Group gross margin increased by 10 basis points to 46.3%, despite increased promotional activity from competitors. However, cost of doing business as a percentage of sales climbed 120 basis points to around 36%, driven up by the impact of inflation on wages and rent.
The company declared a final dividend of 37 cents per share and a special dividend of 50 cents per share, taking the total dividend to 119 cents per share.
The context: Super Retail said record sales and higher gross margin helped mitigate the impact of inflation across the group's cost base, as cost-of-living pressures dampened consumer spending during the year.
It noted that ongoing investment into its store network through 28 new store openings, refurbishments and the rollout of new formats remained an important driver for revenue growth.
The source: ASX announcement
