Analyst predictions of the best Christmas in a decade failed to sustain David Jones’ break-neck sales growth, which slipped from a 15-year high in mid-November to just shy of 10 percent for the 26 weeks to December 27.
The latest results from the department store’s South African owner, Woolworths Holdings, put like-for-like sales growth at 9.7 percent while retail space increased by 1.5 percent.
In Australian dollar terms, sales, including David Jones’ concessions, increased by 11.2 percent compared with the same half-year period last year. This compares with Myer’s most recent sales, which increased by 3.4 percent to AUD714.8 million (USD495.3m) in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, while comparable sales were 3.9 percent stronger.