The first three months of FY 17 have been
challenging in Australia caused by
us not recovering the impact of AU$ devaluation and also due to the impact on
market demand as a result of Masters’ clearance activity. For those of you
who aren’t aware, Masters is the No. 2 DIY retailer in Australia (though not a
big Methven customer), with 62 stores and revenue of A$1.1 billion. Owned by
Woolworths, they confirmed plans to close their entire operation by December
this year, creating a significant one-off impact to the market.
The Board
cautiously maintains our full year guidance, though recognise this
one-off market impact may cause some variation between our first and second
half results.
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