The Warehouse Group's result for H1 FY2016 (6 months to 31 January), shows improvements for Noel Leeming in all but Operating Margin.

The Warehouse Group's report for its FY2016 first half included Noel Leeming sales of $379.8m, a 15% increase on last year ($330.4m). 

Same store sales were +11.4% in the half or +11.1% on a like-for-like basis. This is an improvement - same store sales were negative 1.4% for the same period last year.

Noel Leeming's Operating Profit at $6.39m has also "significantly improved" (+173% in fact) over the same period last year ($2.34m).

This is thanks to an improved trading climate, not having to bear one-off rebranding costs, and a "stronger overall business performance across sales, margin and cost of doing business".

The half year's Operating Profit is a decent gain and in fact isn't much less than what the Noel Leeming stores made for the whole of the previous financial year ($6.42m). 

 

Slim pickings from smartphones

Having said all this, there's still little fat in Noel Leeming's H1 Operating Margin (1.7% for the period), even if it's up from 0.7% last year.

Its Operating Margin was impacted by "a change in mix, notably a standout sales performance around cellular which has a comparatively lower margin than other products".

Indeed, Noel Leeming's 1.7% Operating Margin looks thin compared to equivalent figures at The Warehouse (6.7%) and Warehouse Stationery (4.4%), even Torpedo 7 (2.2%).

It looks even thinner compared to Briscoe Group's latest full year Operating Margin at around 8.5%

Find all of the official documents posted on the NZX here. and look for more in the April issue of Wares magazine.