9 Apr 2014

NZ sales lagging at Michael Hill

1:06 pm on 9 April 2014

Michael Hill International's total sales rose 10.5 percent for a nine month trading period, but its New Zealand arm continues to lag in domestic currency terms.

Michael Hill has stores in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

Sales in stores across all of the regions, which were open at least a year, a key indicator, rose 5.4 percent to $A338.6 million in the nine months to the end of March.

The company describes this as steady growth.

Michael Hill now reports in Australian dollars since it moved across the Tasman, and the weak Aussie dollar against the three other currencies of the countries it operates in, has boosted reported sales.

Converting same store figures into local currency for the regions it operates in, sales were actually weaker in New Zealand, but grew in the other three countries, albeit slower than the growth represented in Australian dollars.

Sales in New Zealand fell 2.9 percent to $NZ83.4 million.