Lewis experiences revenue declines despite high December sales

Published Jan 23, 2018

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JOHANNESBURG - South African furniture retailer Lewis Group on Tuesday reported that its revenue for the nine months ended 31 December 2017 had declined by 1.7 percent, mainly as a result of the 9.6 percent reduction in "Other Revenue".

In a trading statement, Lewis said that this trend of declining other revenue annuity streams was expected to continue.

"This decline in Other Revenue annuity streams is largely due to lower credit sales in prior years, compounded by the implementation of the prescribed maximum credit life insurance rates in August 2017," Lewis said.

This is despite the fact that Lewis recorded a 9.8 percent increase in merchandise sales for the third quarter ended 31 December 2017 compared to the corresponding period, resulting in a seven percent sales growth for the nine months.

Lewis said that comparable stores sales grew by 13.3 percent for the quarter and 9.8 percent for the nine months.

For the final quarter, Lewis revenue increased by 0.7 percent, showing a slight improvement on the decline of 3.2 percent recorded for the six months ended September 2017. 

Lewis said it was satisfied with sales and collections performance in the third quarter despite the continued challenging trading and economic conditions, and ongoing adverse impact of the National Credit Act's affordability assessment regulations.

 - African News Agency (ANA)

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