Italtile FY trading profit up 21% to R905m
The building materials retailer attributed the performance to better execution of basic retail principles and best practice in store, and improvements in key back-end functions.
The owner of Italtile Retail, CTM and TopT grew system-wide turnover 17% to R5.22bn while same-store revenue increased 16%.
"The building retail market continues to prove how resilient it is in this tough economic time and Italtile is well poised to take advantage of a recovery in the overall market," Imara SP Reid analysts said in a recent note.
"We nevertheless believe that the management has continued to prove its worth and its strategy is well suited to the current environment."
Italtile cautioned against the effect of extended rand weakness, noting that "continued rationalisation, especially among smaller independent traders, is anticipated".
A final dividend of 13c per share was declared, bringing the total dividend to 25c, up 32% from the year-earlier period. Headline earnings per share rose 22% to 71.6c.