David Jones CEO: luxury spending remains but second-half sales slow
David Jones chief executive Scott Fyfe says trading at the upmarket department store has remained in positive territory and shoppers are still investing in luxury brands, although sales in the past few months have slowed as pressures mount on household budgets.
Mr Fyfe told The Australian Financial Review that “good progress” had been made on sales, along with strong cost management and solid profits in the second half. He also said the 185-year-old chain had reached an agreement with its ASX-listed landlord Scentre on several of its hold over leases.
Anchorage Capital Partners’ Beau Dixon (left) and David Jones CEO Scott Fyfe say shoppers have pulled back spending but still love luxury. Natalie Boog
“We ended up delivering significantly ahead of our expectations. The first half was exceptionally strong. The second half, we definitely saw the impact of some interest rate hikes on consumer behaviours,” he said.
“But all in all, FY22 numbers, we’re really pleased with and its set some really good momentum into 2024 and 2025. Sales were in positive territory, both stores and online. I think we picked up market share.”
His comments came as David Jones’ former owners, South African-based Woolworths Holdings Ltd, revealed in its full-year accounts that itmade 371 million rand ($30.9 million) profit on the disposal of the department store, on a price tag of just $92.5 million to Anchorage Capital Partners.
Woolworths pocketed only $10.75 million after costs, after paying more than $2 billion for the group in 2014.
Woolworths said in its results to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that there was a pronounced deceleration in second-half sales. Turnover and concession sales at David Jones, based on a comparable nine-month basis,
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