Sydney based distributor is awash with cash and no debt, despite revenues falling 20.5%, profit after tax fell 25.2% to $8M from $13.5M in 2022.

In their latest ASIC filings management have indicated that they are set to pay a final fully franked dividend of $10 cents per share for 2023, this is a combination of dividends and capital return of 25 cents per share following the sale of assets.

Revenues came in at $152M in 2023 Vs $191M in 2022 this was primarily because of falling sales, the loss of Blanco and their sale of their Omega appliances businesses to Melbourne based Residentia.

One bright spot was that export revenue continued to grow due to the addition of a new pizza oven to the BBQ division’s product range which had sales of $14.4M which was up 3.6%.

Cash on hand on 30 June 2023 was $32.8M (FY22: $12.9M) due primarily to the exit of the Australian Appliances business and sale of the Omega brand.

There was a release of cash from the debtors and inventory of $10 million, plus the proceeds from exiting the Blanco distribution of $5 million and the sale of the Omega brand of $11 million, totalling $26 million over FY22 and FY23.

Shriro is returning excess cash to shareholders subject to approval, via a capital return of an amount equivalent to 18.5 cents per share.

Management claimed that revenue from continuing operations was $125.5M, which was 8.5% down, as the prior year had strong consumer demand for household items during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

The impact of increasing interest rates also negatively impacted consumer demand in FY23, global sales for outdoor home products such as BBQs was also down.

Shriro completed its exit of its discontinued Australian Appliances operations in the second half of FY23, with its largest Appliances brand Omega being sold effective 31 March 2023.

The result, including the impact of the discontinued operations, was EBITDA of $17.6M, down 20.5% pcp. NPAT was $8.0M (FY22: $13.5M).

A key product for Shriro is Japanese brand Casio with management claiming that the brand performed “in line with expectations, with the revenue of its main two categories calculators and watches growing between 2% and 3%”.

Ironically calculators were in high demand with one observer quipping “Maybe people are trying to work out their mortgage payments”.

One part of the Casio products mix struggled with keyboards proving to be “A challenging category”.

Shriro’s expansion of its Everdure by Heston Blumenthal products globally benefitted from the addition of a new pizza oven to the product portfolio with sales growing in the second half.

Management claim that the global retail market for BBQs was poor in FY23.

Shriro has recognised costs in FY23 associated with assisting our customers’ sell through of BBQ stock in FY24, to ensure our BBQ resellers and associated retailers have appropriate levels of BBQ stock leading in FY25 and beyond.

Operating expenses were reduced to $46.1M, down on the prior year by 12.4%.

Restructure costs were recognised in FY23 which included redundancies, stock clearance, the exit of the Victoria and Western Australia warehouses, and the write-off of associated plant and equipment.

Due to the loss of brands Shriro is looking to sublet part of their Chullora warehouse complex in NSW.

Currently Shriro has no debt and anticipates its FY24 EBITDA to be in the range of $15M to $17M.

Key for the Company in 2024 is the American Standard and Grohe brands in the New Zealand market with sales via Shriro kicking off in July 2023.

G-Shock is sweet to celebrate their 40th anniversary with a new range of watches introduced in May 2023. “These are selling well, and it’s expected to deliver “A positive boost for watch sales in the first half leading up to Christmas”.