Electronics retailer, JB Hi-Fi, expects net profit after tax to be between $112 million and $116 million, a 7 per cent to 11 per cent rise over last year for FY13, driven by stronger than expected sales in the second half of FY13.
The electronics maker’s earlier guidance was NPAT between $108 million and $112 million.
It has also revised its sales guidance slightly upwards to $3.3 billion from an earlier forecast of about $3.25 billion.
Its comparable store sales growth was down slightly at 1.3 per cent. Overall sales for the 10 months ending April 30 were up by 4.9 per cent.
JB Hi-Fi opened 13 new stores in FY13, all in Australia. As of June 2013, it expects to have 177 stores, out of which 164 were in Australia and rest in New Zealand.
In a filing with the ASX, It said the market is still very competitive although the company isn’t experiencing the level of “unsustainable discounting” seen in the previous corresponding period. It added growth in New Zealand remains patchy.
In the first half of 2013, its online sales grew 40.3 per cent on the pcp to $37.2 million or 2 per cent of sales. It has efforts underway to further improve its online presence. It is currently in the process of building a new JB Hi-Fi website that hopes to improve customer experience.
In February, JB Hi-Fi acquired a 51 per cent stake in education reseller Network Neighborhood. NN expects $25 million in revenue in FY13. JB Hi-Fi will acquire the remaining stake in the company in FY15, according to the filing.
