By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY–Australian auto parts supplier and retailer Bapcor plans to further reduce costs in the second half of its 2024 fiscal year after 1H retail revenue fell amid declining consumer confidence.
The ASX-listed company on Monday said that unaudited retail revenue for the six months through December was down 3% on the same period a year earlier. It expects unit earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to be down by 11% and 14%, on a pro-forma basis.
Finance costs also jumped 58% on year, leading to an unaudited net profit at the group level of between 53 million Australian dollars (US$34.8 million) and A$54 million, also on a pro-forma basis. This compared with A$62 million a year earlier.
“Results were disappointing due to general macroeconomic headwinds which have impacted our retail business, as well as increased cost of doing business inflation and higher interest rates,” Chief Executive and Managing Director Noel Meehan said.
Bapcor expects 2H pro-forma net profit to benefit by between A$7 million and A$10 million from its ongoing transformation project. It anticipates about a A$2 million run-rate improvement from actions implemented in the December quarter, while planning unspecified further cost savings in the June half.
Unaudited first-half group revenue was up 2% at A$1.02 billion on strength in Bapcor’s trade and wholesale business.
Write to Stuart Condie at [email protected]
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