Lewis is ‘star of the show'

Revenue grew 5% in the quarter, and 5% for the nine months to December. Merchandise sales for the quarter to December were up 2% while “cumulative merchandise sales growth for the nine months was substantially in line with the comparative period in the prior year”.

During the key trading month of December, revenue rose 7% and merchandise sales 5%.

Nedcor Securities analyst Syd Vianello said there was “no doubt that Lewis is the star of the sector”. He said sales for the quarter had held up to half-year levels and the company's bad debt was stable.

Lewis said its debtors' book, measured by the doubtful debt provision, was “stable”.

The doubtful debt provision for the nine months to end-December was 15.4%, in line with the 15.5% doubtful debt provision to September for its half-year.

Vianello said market intelligence indicated that Ellerine Holdings, a competitor in the industry that was purchased by African Bank a year ago, seemed to be losing market share.

Vianello said, overall, the furniture market's last six months were expected to be down, with the JD Group seen as flat.

Source: Business Day

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