Kiwi retailer slumps along with parent company.

 

Sales at New Zealand’s Warehouse stationery were down 6.7 per cent in FY24, one of several low points in the parent company’s performance over the past financial year.

 

Warehouse Stationery sales slumped to NZ$231.9 million while operating profit declined 44 per cent to NZ$12.9 million, with an operating margin of 5.6 per cent down 370 basis points on the prior year.in FY24. 

 

One bright spot were the Print & Copy Centre products and service which continued to be the division’s highest growth category, up 14 per cent in FY24.

 

The Warehouse Group interim CEO John Journee (pictured) described the last financial year as one of the most challenging in the company’s 42-year history.

 

“While trading conditions have been tough, our FY24 performance is disappointing, and we’ve simply scored too many own goals,” he said.

 

“Our ecosystem strategy was too ambitious, and we took our eye off the ball on product. We held onto Torpedo7 and TheMarket.com too long, reacted too slowly to changing customer spending, and fell out of step with what Kiwi families want,” he added.

 

 Journee was appointed interim CEO following the resignation of Nick Grayston in May.