Ellerines re-engineering starting to bear fruit

The re-engineering of furniture group Ellerines was starting to bear fruit, African Bank Investments Limited CEO Leon Kirkinis said on Wednesday, 10 February 2010.

"We're starting to understand the business better," he said, adding that it was all about "learning which levers to pull".

"it's all about a better marketing formula a better marketing mix," he noted.

He added that the retail margins of the business had firmed and costs continued to decline on on the back of the initiatives implemented since acquisition as well as new distribution and marketing strategies being rolled out.

Ellerines' merchandise sales for the quarter ended December 2009 were 1.401 billion from Q1 2009's 1.382 billion rand, up 1.4% over the previous comparable period, while like-for-like sales grew by 5.3%.

"The improvement in sales was widespread across the brands, with notable performances by Geen and Richards (+22%), Dial- a-Bed (+22%) and Beares (+20%). The credit sales mix improved across all brands and retail gross profit margins were slightly firmer during the quarter," said Kirkinis.