Lewis more than halves its interim dividend
Aftertax profit for the six months to end-September fell 41.5% to R174.3m while overall revenue fell 2% to R2.74bn, its said in its interim results statement on Wednesday morning.
Lewis said the drop in revenue was mainly due to lower insurance and interest charged on credit sales.
Excluding new stores, Lewis said its sales fell 9.2%. Including new stores, merchandise sales grew 1%.
Group credit sales were down 2.3% and accounted for 63.4% of all sales, down from 65.9% in the matching period.
In the Beares chain, acquired from Abil’s subsidiary Ellerines, credit sales accounted for 52.9% of total sales. In its flagship Lewis stores along with Best Home and Electric, credit sales account for 67.4% of the total.
Operating costs, excluding debtor costs, increased by 8.4% mainly as a result of the integration costs of the 56 Beares and Ellerines stores acquired in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
"Excluding Beares, operating costs across Lewis and Best Home and Electric were well managed to an increase of 2.9%. Beares has a higher cost structure than the group’s other brands and it is expected to take another two years to more closely align the Beares expense base with the rest of the group," Lewis said in its statement.