Homewares retailer Adairs has today warned investors that profits during the final six-month period of 2021 sank to close to half, year-on-year, due to lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, warehousing, and staff cost increases.
The news led to an 18 per cent fall in its shares this morning, sitting at $3.12 in early trading.
Adairs lost 31 per cent of available trading days during the half-year, “significant operational disruptions” which Adairs chief executive Mark Ronan says cost the company $18 million in earnings before interest and tax.
Adairs expects EBIT for the six-month period to fall between $32 million and $33 million.
By comparison, during the six months leading up to December 31, 2020, the company brought in $60.2.
The fall would have been even more severe had Adairs not shelled out A$85 million in cash and shares to buy New Zealand online homewares retailer Mocka in December, 2019, part of what Ronan credits as the company’s “omni-channel approach”.
