Lewis Stores, a furniture retail brand of the Lewis Group. The group reported double digit sales growth in the three months to end-December, and much strong cash sales versus credit sales. Picture: supplied
Lewis Group increased revenue a healthy 13.6% in the nine months to December 2024 due to improving consumer confidence and strong marketing campaigns, boosted by other income such as insurance.
The furniture, home appliance, and electronic goods retailer, with well-known brands including Lewis, Beares, Bedzoe, and United Furniture Outlets (UFO), said in a trading statement on Monday that merchandise sales gained momentum in the group’s third quarter to end-December 2024.
Cash sales showed a strong turnaround, with all three months reporting double-digit growth, resulting in an overall increase of 14.4% for the quarter and 1.5% for the year to date.
Credit sales increased by 13.1%, accounting for 68.2% (December 2023: 65.8%) of total sales. Group merchandise sales grew by 9.1%.
Group merchandise sales for the third quarter increased by 9.9%, supported by strong Black Friday sales across all brands, following growth of 7.7% for the first quarter and 9.3% for the second quarter.
Comparable store sales grew by 6.2% for the nine-month period and 6.3% for the quarter.
Other revenue, comprising interest income and ancillary services income as well as insurance revenue, benefited from the strong credit sales in recent years, increasing 19.6% for the third quarter and 20.1% for the nine months.
Collection rates were resilient and settled at 79.6% for the nine months (December 2023: 80.7%) and 79.7% for the third quarter (Q3 2023: 80.3%).
Debtor cost growth was contained to 2% for the nine-month period and was 10.3% lower than the quarter a year before.
The annual results are expected out on or about May 22, May 2025.
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