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Mitre 10 top dog in NZ

New Zealand’s appetite for DIY is powering on as leading hardware and gardening supply chain Mitre 10 records another strong result. The New Zealand owned and operated co-operative topped its main rivals last year to become the No 1 hardware chain by revenue. Source: Voxy

The hardware chain has maintained that position with another year of solid growth and expansion.

Mitre 10 network sales for the 2012 financial year were NZ$858.37 million up 6.5% on the previous years’ NZ$805.47 million, the highest in the company’s 38 year history.

“Most importantly, and the true measure of profitability for any co-operative, our distributions to members were also up 4.5% on last year to $45.7 million while share capital increased by 5.2% to $44.5 million,” said Mitre 10 chairman Martin Dippie.

Group revenue was also up NZ$32.2 million (6.3%) on the previous year to
NZ$536.8 million and Mitre 10 New Zealand Limited returned an after tax profit of NZ$3.4 million, up NZ$2 million on the last financial year.”

Mitre 10 chief executive John Hartmann said the current focus on expanding the Mega store format and refreshing the look, product and service offerings within Mitre 10 stores would continue at pace.

“It may seem counterintuitive to the environment we’re operating in, but our program of expansion, reinvestment and refreshing the stores and product lines is proving to be a very strong formula for success for our members,” said
Hartmann.

“One of the most encouraging indicators in our revenue numbers is the split between growth from new stores and sales in existing stores, which is about 50-50. That means it is not just the new stores that are driving the numbers upwards and that both trade and retail customers like what we are doing to improve our service.

“The trade sector is bringing excellent results following our decision to refocus and bring in people with the appropriate expertise to service our trade customers.”