Sales Drive Mitre 10 Towards $1 Billion Barrier

For Immediate Release

25 November 2013

Sales Drive Mitre 10 Towards $1 Billion Barrier

Mitre 10’s drive to break through the $1 billion sales barrier continues with the country’s largest home improvement and garden retailer reporting a 10 percent increase on the previous year’s total network sales to $944.7 million for the 2013 financial year.

Those sales were up $86.2 million on the June 30 2012 financial year performance of $858 million contributing to a 14.5 percent increase in distributions paid to Mitre 10 co-operative members. The 2013 total distributions of $52.3 million were up 14.5 percent or $6.6 million on 2012’s $45.7 million. Group revenue was also up by more than 10 percent with revenue increasing from $536.8 million to $592.1 million.

“As a co-operative owned by its members the distributions paid to members are our real measure of success,” said Mitre 10 Chairman Martin Dippie.

Mr Dippie said an ongoing focus on customer service, expansion and refreshing of the Mitre 10 and Mitre 10 MEGA store network, and a rekindling of the Kiwi DIY DNA was behind the significant boost in sales and revenue.

“The numbers for the early part of the current year are also off to a good start so it looks like our growth trend of recent years will continue.”

Mr Dippie said initiatives such as the award winning “Easy As” advertising campaign, online feedback from customers about their in-store experience, and extensive improvements in the company’s digital platform had helped boost retail sales while a continued focus on the trade sector offering was also bringing results.

“Easy As has clicked over more than a million minutes of YouTube viewing since its launch last April and won the Advertiser of the Year award. The online feedback form has been very successful to the point of stores being able to tweak their service within a week to meet customer concerns and we’ve put considerable efforts in to staff training.

“Trade customers have noticed the ongoing boost to our staff resources in their highly regarded sector, we’re more closely aligned to the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO), Master Builders and Certified Builders and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment.

“What is also pleasing in the retail sector is that the increase in sales and revenues continues to come from growth in same store and new store sales so it’s not just the new stores that are providing the growth impetus.

“We boosted Mitre 10 MEGA store numbers to 34, with four new openings in the 2013 year, and three more stores New Lynn, Taupo and Porirua have opened post reporting date. In addition we’ve refurbished 11 Mitre 10 stores as part of ongoing plan to refresh the brand with a new livery, new floor layouts and new product lines in our Mitre 10 stores.”

At a governance level Mr Dippie noted the Board mix of two independent and six member Directors was giving the business a good balance of external skills mixed with internal knowledge and understanding and he noted the contribution of the Executive Leadership Team at the national Support Centre during the CEO transition period.

“We’ve continued to build momentum and stayed in a good position for future growth while undertaking our CEO search thanks to the dedication of the Support Centre’s Executive Leadership Team. We have found a strong replacement in Neil Cowie and we look forward with some confidence to the year ahead and pushing through the $1 billion sales barrier.”

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