Rod Duke: Briscoe Group managing director on the group's sales results, expecting a challenging first half of the year

Briscoes Group says despite a difficult retail environment, it's had positive sales results. 

The owner of the Briscoe Homeware and Rebel Sport brands says sales reached $245.3 million in the three months to January – up 0.96% annually. 

Homeware sales went up 1.27%, and sporting goods rose 0.44%. 

Managing Director Rod Duke believes tough trading conditions will continue and be especially challenging in the first six months of this year. 

Duke told Mike Hosking he believes the second half will be better, hopefully driven by initiatives from the government. 

He says it will be marked seriously if nothing is seen by the end of March. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New insight into the retail side of our economy. Briscoes,
one of the nation's shinier success stories, produces their Q
four results. Of course, broadly their Flat, which, given the circumstances,
as Andrew was suggesting earlier on the program, might actually
be a good news story. The group managing director is,
of course Rod Duke, who is with this Rod morning
to you.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Does Flat make you happy or not?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah? I think that's pretty pretty good in the lot
of what's happening out there at the moment.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
The number I like was the post COVID one you
talked about, and that was there's been a big, solid
bounce back, so that I mean a lot of industries
haven't come back since COVID you have. What do you
put that down to?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I think just the just the operating platform of've gone,
the way in which we go to market that proposes
the customers, you know, a real good product for a
good price, still continues to resonate in the in the suburbs.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
And the Black Friday Boxing Day thing was in this
Is that a big deal? Is that like a game changer,
make or break day or not? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Look at it probably is. Black Friday for us is
the biggest single day in our in our training year,
and the three or four days around are the biggest
three or four days, continuous days that we've got the
sort of superseded boxing day in these days.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Okay, home where one point seven or one point two
seven and sports at zero point four four? Is that
material or are they basically the same sort of thing?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's the same. It's the same sort of thing. Look,
if we if we chose the best little harder with rebel,
then the number would have been a little greater, and
quite frankly, if we press a little harder, it wouldn't
have been nine point four, it would have been one
one point six in terms of sales results.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, economists say the second half of this year will
be the better half of the year. Do you see
that or not?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, I'm budgeting that way as well. We think the
national government has surrounded a time to start to explore
some interesting things they might have up their sleeve, and
it's just about ready to go. And I think you're
thinking reelects, so they've probably got to go. Pretty sure.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
I'm glad you said that, because a lot of people
are saying that I just don't know if they're getting
the message. And when I talk to luxon each week,
he's full of vim and vigor and intent, but there
aren't the runs on the board. Is that fair?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah? I think so, and I think they will be
marked seriously if in fact, by say end of March,
well we don't see some serious initiatives.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, so they need to get on with it, and
they probably should have been the first place. What about
your hours and staff and all of that. Talk to
me about that because over the holidays I'm wandering around
with a lot of people closed in hospital and still
a lot of people moaning about they can't get can
you get staff and do you retain them?

Speaker 2 (02:47):
This time of year typically with a lot of mums
and unique students filling in casual work for it given week,
but stop takes ended year and big sales events. Yeah,
we found it difficult to get to get start pre Christmas,

(03:08):
but we managed to. We managed to fill up. But
it is a it is a It is a tough
market in terms of getting the right people.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Even though you know so the right people is the key.
I take it is that just a thing? Is that
just the way things are, or is something wrong.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Now it's been like that. I guess for a couple
of years we went through a period, if you recall,
a very very low unemployment and so that was that
was even more difficult. You could get heads, but perhaps
not the right ones. But now it just continues to
be difficult, and I think even came forward it's to
be quite difficult.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's good to talk to you. Rod. Appreciated very much.
Rod Duke Briscoe's group managing directory.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
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