The Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) share price is trading flat on Wednesday after releasing a sales update.
At the time of writing the retail giant’s shares are changing hands for $3.55.
What did Harvey Norman announce?
Today’s update reveals that Harvey Norman’s Australian business has been on form during the pandemic.
During the crisis, only two franchised stores in Tasmania were closed for two weeks due to a mandated closure of the region by the Tasmanian State Government.
All other Australian franchised stores remained open. This was because, like supermarkets, Harvey Norman was seen as an essential service by the Australian Government during the crisis.
In light of this and increasing demand for many of its products, as of 31 May 2020, the Harvey Norman franchise network has delivered a 17.5% increase in sales in the second half.
This compares to just a 0.1% increase in sales during the first half and means that its year to date sales are up 7.4% on the prior corresponding period.
What about the rest of the business?
Things weren’t quite as positive for its overseas operations, where the vast majority of its stores were forced to close for certain periods during the pandemic.
In Australian dollar terms, New Zealand company operated sales are down 7.3% during the second half. It was a similar story in Slovenia and Croatia, with sales down 5.5% half to date.
Things were much worse in Northern Ireland and Singapore. Second half sales were down 38.2% and 21.7%, respectively, as of 31 May.
Positively, its Ireland and Malaysia stores were still growing their sales. Ireland sales are up 25.4% during the second half and Malaysia sales are up 1.3%.
Special dividend.
In April, Harvey Norman revoked its decision to pay shareholders a 12 cents per share interim dividend due to the pandemic.
It appears as though things haven’t turned out as bad as it first feared. As a result, it has decided to pay a special dividend to shareholders later this month.
Harvey Norman will pay a 6 cents per share fully franked dividend on 29 June 2020. To be eligible, you will need to be a registered shareholder at the close of business on 23 June 2020.
Not sure about Harvey Norman right now? Then check out the highly recommended shares below…
One trick to potentially generating life-changing wealth from the stock market is to buy early-stage growth companies when their share prices still look dirt cheap.
Motley Fool’s resident tech stock expert Dr. Anirban Mahanti has identified 5 stocks he thinks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
* Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
More reading
- How to build a $20,000 passive income with ASX shares
- Can ASX 200 retail shares outperform this year?
- ASX retail shares best placed to benefit from wall of industry bankruptcies
- How to be an ASX 200 share millionaire in 15 years
- The Aussie dollar just hit an 8-week high. Here’s how it affects your ASX shares
Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
The post Harvey Norman share price flat on sales update and special dividend announcement appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
from Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/3hgz8J8
Leave a Reply