Sales in outdoor clothing and equipment sales have plummeted due to the impact by fire and drought in Australia.
The Super Retail Group (SRG) the parent company of Rebel, Supercheap Auto, BCF and Macpac, has reported that all brands have been impacted to a varying degree, with BCF and Macpac most affected.
Anthony Heraghty, Group Managing Director and CEO Officer of SRG said more than 50 BCF stores were forced to change trading hours and close temporarily as a result of the bushfires and weather conditions.
“The bushfires and associated smoke haze coincided with BCF’s peak holiday trading period,” Anthony said.
“This led to a downturn in customer demand for outdoor products, particularly in the camping category.”
Macpac LFL sales declined by 9.5% in Australia with NSW and Victoria heavily impacted after a strong start to the peak trade season with higher year-on-year trading across the Black Friday and Cyber Monday online events.
Supercheap Auto’s sales were also impacted, particularly in regional stores in fire affected regions too.
“Whilst we expect the impact to be one-off, it is difficult to estimate how long it will take for sales to recover, specifically in the outdoor category,” Anthony said.
“The Group delivered LFL sales growth of 1.7% for the first half. However, reflecting the impact of the bushfires on sales, Group LFL sales growth for weeks 17 to 26 was flat compared to positive LFL sales growth of 3.2% in the first 16 weeks.”
The Group’s first half segment EBIT (pre the application of AASB 16) is now expected to be between $113 million and $115 million.
SRG has contributed $250,000 to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery program.