Kirkcaldie turns to first-half loss on falling retail sales, building costs
Wellington's upscale department store turns in a first-half loss as sales fall and it incurs additional costs to refurbish its Harbour City Centre building.
Kirkcaldie & Stains, Wellington's upscale department store, turned in a first-half loss as sales fell and it incurred additional costs to refurbish its Harbour City Centre building as insurance and property taxes rose.
The net loss was $531,000 in the six months ended February 28, from a profit of $11,000 a year earlier, the Wellington-based company says in a statement. Sales fell to $19.8 million from $20.9 million.
Kirkcaldie managed to reduce the pretax loss from its retail operation by 32 percent to $227,000 in the latest half as it continued to drive down costs.
"However, the retail operations continue to face revenue challenges with sales 5.6 percent down on last year despite a number of initiatives undertaken to drive sales and improve customer experience," it says.
Its property arm posted a pretax loss of $398,000, from a year-earlier profit of $462,000, as it embarked on the second phase of development work at the Harbour City building.
The value of the building, put at $46.5 million, exceeds the company's market value of $24.5 million, which has prompted the company to try to spin-off the property-owning unit. Today it says the plans remain at a preliminary stage.
In December, a mystery buyer walked away from the deal.
The unrecognised value in the company's property assets lured investors including veteran corporate raider Sir Ron Brierley and former associate Sir Selwyn Cushing.
Given the first half loss, the company will not pay an interim dividend.
Its shares were unchanged at $2.40 today.
(BusinessDesk)
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Kirkcaldie turns to first-half loss on falling retail sales, building costs
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