Briscoe Group announces that it will return the wage subsidy

Briscoe Group will return the salary subsidy it received after the $ 27.9 million earnings it made in the first half of its 2020 financial year.

The home and sporting goods company said it had made the decision after experiencing strong sales during the third quarter.

He received $ 11.5 million in government wage subsidies on his businesses. This included $ 6,476,001.60 for 1,073 employees at his Briscoes business and $ 866,011.20 for 124 employees at the central office.

President Dame Rosanne Meo said the group’s continued sales momentum is due to the “team led by Rod Duke.”

Duke is the company’s largest shareholder, owning a 78% stake, and received $ 15.6 million of the $ 20.3 million interim dividend the group paid in the first half of fiscal 2020.

“The energy and success of the team to continue new developments and initiatives during this extraordinary period has far exceeded the expectations of the Board,” Meo said in the NZX statement.

“The full extent of the lockdown was seen in our first quarter sales announced on May 1, which were down 35.6%. However, the rebound over the next three months was equally remarkable, allowing Briscoe Group to report a half-year result that was broadly in line with our previous year. “

The group’s net profit in the six months to July 26 was hardly affected by the outage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and it paid a dividend of 9 cents a share to shareholders, an increase from 8.5c last year. .

Its profit of nearly $ 28 million was down just 1.3% from the same period last year.

Meo said the board had taken a “considerate approach” for the past seven months.

“Although encouraged by the mid-year performance, the strong recovery continues during this third quarter and also the lower probability of another Level 4 lockdown of all stores has now confirmed our confidence in making our decision to return the wage subsidy.

In March, following the start of the pandemic, the group canceled its $ 28 million dividend. Meo said that retaining these funds had contributed to her ability to support her staff.

He said the board was continuing to monitor the looming business environment, adding that the group was “certainly not out of the woods” but in “good shape.”

“Other companies have leveraged their balance sheets and, in some cases, they have had to go to shareholders for more funds. We have not had to do this.

“Unlike other companies, Briscoe Group has not laid off people or closed stores. We pride ourselves on having a strong balance sheet so that we can continue to expand our economic footprint with the opening of new stores that will inevitably lead to job creation. “.

Briscoe said its retail staff received full salary during closing periods.