Retailing group Hallenstein Glasson has credited several factors for its improved performance in the last six months – one of them being the Australian government.

The company today reported unaudited sales of $198.19 million for the year to August 1, up 2.3% from the previous year.

However, unaudited net profit after tax was projected at between $12.2 million and $12.4 million, a drop of approximately 23%.

The good news for the retailer was the turnaround it had made in the second half.

In March it slashed its interim dividend from 17c to 10c after reporting a 41% drop in first half net profit to $5.48 million.

But in its announcement today it projected net profit for the second half to have been approximately $6.6 million, roughly on par with the second half last year.

Breaking even in profit for the second half required a 7.6% increase in sales, something chief executive Roy Dillon reflected on in his comments.

“While sales for the winter season had shown a gradual return of consumer confidence in both Australia and New Zealand, sales had been achieved through aggressive pricing strategy which had been at the expense of margin,” he said.

An early start to winter had assisted sales, with May in particular producing strong sales across the board, the company said.

And there was another positive factor in the second half – the boost in sales in Australia provided by the Labor government’s much-discussed stimulus package.

The package, which doled out one-off payments of about A$900 to low-and-medium income earners to spend, was Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s response to the economic slowdown and Hallensteins has reaped the rewards from this “stimulancy”.

“Overall our inventories remain within budget, and we will continue to seek to improve market share in what we see as a subdued retail environment over the coming months,” Mr Dillon said.

A full profit announcement for the 12 months ended 1 August 2009 will be released to the market on September 24.