I think we will see some upgrades coming, which is why stocks like JB H-Fi, Nick Scali and Baby Bunting are bouncing on their numbers. July was nothing like the record month of July 2022, but it hasn’t been as bad as analysts were expecting.
Īnthony: It’s true that cost pressures are there, James, but I think sales held up better than expected and that is emerging as an early theme this reporting season. It’s not easy to out-run higher inflation and interest rates. Occupancy expenses rose 6.3 per cent during 2023, and with half of the group’s leases linked to CPI, rent costs will keep pushing higher. Sales and marketing costs jumped 11 per cent in the 2023 financial year, but next year will see award wage increases of 5.75 per cent roll through, plus higher superannuation payments and Victorian payroll tax levies. The interesting thing for me is the cost outlook. Yes, sales in the first six weeks of the new financial year were down 2.9 per cent, but that was much better than the 6.4 per cent drop the market expected. James: Well Anthony, a huge week of earnings got under way with the classic retail bellwether JB Hi-Fi – and the news was surprisingly good.
On the big days of this month’s earnings season, The Australian Financial Review’s Chanticleer columnists James Thomson and Anthony Macdonald will extract the gold from the key profit results.
