This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Total Sales: $4.2 billion in FY26, up 3.2%.
Like-for-Like Sales Growth: 1.8% for the group.
Gross Margin: Increased by 10 basis points to 45.7%.
Normalized Profit Before Tax: Declined by 7% to $306 million, with a margin of 7.3%.
Normalized Net Profit After Tax: $226 million.
Normalized Earnings Per Share: $1.00 per share.
Dividend: Fully franked final dividend of $0.33 per share, bringing the full-year ordinary dividend to $0.65 per share.
Net Debt: $14 million at year-end.
Online Sales: Grew by 5.3% to $552 million, representing 13% of total sales.
Store Network: Net 15 new stores opened, with 28 openings and 13 closures.
Supercheap Auto Sales: Total sales grew by 3.9% to $1.6 billion; like-for-like sales grew 2.8%.
Supercheap Auto Profit Before Tax: Increased by 3.3% to $203 million.
Rebel Sales: Total sales grew by 4.5% to $1.4 billion; like-for-like sales grew 3.8%.
Rebel Profit Before Tax: Grew by 4.3% to $105 million.
BCF Sales: Total sales grew by 0.2% to $953 million; like-for-like sales fell 2.1%.
BCF Segment Profit Before Tax: Increased by 14.3% to $52 million.
Macpac Sales: Total sales grew by 3.5% to $240 million; like-for-like sales grew 1.5%.
Macpac Segment Profit Before Tax: Increased by 32% to $13.6 million.
Operating Cash Flow: $593 million.
Capital Expenditure: $123 million, down $42 million from FY25.
Post-Tax Return on Capital: 16.7%.
Release Date: August 20, 2026
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Positive Points
Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX:SUL) delivered positive like-for-like sales growth of 1.8% and total sales growth of 3.2% to $4.2 billion, with gross margin expanding by 10 basis points to 45.7%.
The company’s loyalty program continues to strengthen, with 13.1 million club members representing over 85% of sales, and net promoter scores improving to 70.
Rebel achieved strong performance with 3.8% like-for-like sales growth, 60 basis points gross margin improvement, and 4.3% profit before tax growth, driven by successful FIFA World Cup campaign and improved promotional discipline.
Supercheap Auto delivered market share gains and a 6-point increase in club member net promoter score to 75, with over 1 million fitments completed, up 12% year-on-year.
The group maintains a strong balance sheet with only $14 million debt, strong operating cash flow of $593 million, and a fully franked final dividend of $0.33 per share, bringing total dividends to $0.65 per share.
The new Tregonina distribution center is operational and on track to unlock national distribution center functionality, which is expected to drive working capital benefits in the future.
The group has a positive start to FY27 with 1.5% like-for-like sales growth and 3.5% total sales growth in the first seven weeks.
Negative Points
Normalized profit before tax declined by 7% to $306 million, with profit before tax margin down 80 basis points to 7.3%.
BCF faced a challenging year with like-for-like sales falling 2.1% and segment profit before tax margin declining 90 basis points to 5.5%, impacted by unfavorable weather and the fuel crisis.
The fuel crisis and Middle East tensions negatively impacted trading during the key Easter period and created uncertainty for the FY27 outlook.
Group unallocated costs increased by $28.5 million due to higher project investments ($19 million) and increased net interest expense ($6.6 million).
Inventory levels increased by 8% year-on-year, with a 6% increase in net inventory per store, partly due to tactical investment and cost inflation.
Macpac’s trading momentum softened in the fourth quarter due to mild winter conditions, with like-for-like sales growth of only 1.5% and subdued demand in New South Wales and Victoria.
The company faces headwinds from elevated inflation, interest rate rises, and pressure on housing markets, which are weighing on consumer confidence.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Can you provide more detail on the Rebel gross margin improvement in the second half, and how much of that is a one-off benefit from the FIFA World Cup versus sustainable operational improvements?A: Paul Bradshaw (Managing Director) acknowledged that the World Cup provided a benefit through full-price licensed product sales, but emphasized that the margin improvement also reflects ongoing work on promotional discipline and product flow that began after the half-year results. He noted the team has made progress but still has significant work to do in this area, indicating the improvements are not solely a one-off event.
Q: Regarding the Rebel gross margin, you mentioned improved promotional discipline. Can you talk about what that entails and whether the benefit will continue through FY27?A: Paul Bradshaw (Managing Director) explained that the team made significant changes post-Christmas to improve how value is displayed to customers, particularly in stores. He stressed that while progress has been made, there is still a lot of work to do across all brands to demonstrate value to consumers facing challenging economic conditions, suggesting the positive trajectory can continue.
Q: On the World Cup benefit for Rebel, you’re going to have to cycle that next year. Can you give a sense of how big the benefit was, potentially $15-20 million in sales?A: Paul Bradshaw (Managing Director) confirmed the company benefited significantly from the World Cup, with a 70% increase in volume that sold out early. While he declined to provide specific guidance on the sales boost, he noted the success gives confidence in the strategy to “truly own sport” in Rebel, and highlighted that the calendar includes other major sporting events like the Women’s World Cup in the following year.
Q: On Supercheap Auto, can you dig into the impact of the Middle East conflict on volumes and the inflation benefit, particularly around the oil campaign in the first seven weeks?A: Paul Bradshaw (Managing Director) noted a shift in product mix as consumers focused more on maintaining their vehicles rather than leisure activities. David Burns (CFO) added that inflationary pressures are being seen in oil-based products, lubricants, aerosols, and paints, which the company must partially pass on to customers, but this has led to a stronger response when promotional campaigns are run.
Q: On inventory levels, should we expect higher inventory going forward given the temporary build for supply chain concerns and better availability in Rebel?A: David Burns (CFO) stated that while there was a tactical investment in working capital to protect against fuel crisis disruptions, the company expects to return to historical inventory levels of around 21-22% of sales. He noted that the new Truganina distribution center is currently running as a regional DC, and the working capital benefits will only be realized once it transitions to a national DC around this time next year.
Q: On lease costs, lease interest and amortization increased 10% year-on-year, well ahead of sales. Could we see that again in FY27?A: David Burns (CFO) explained that the increase reflects the new Truganina DC, which has higher upfront lease accounting costs as a large asset at the start of its life, plus the duplication of having both the Truganina and Altona DCs operating simultaneously. He confirmed the Altona lease drops out by March next year, which will alleviate some of the pressure.
Q: On wage costs, with the enterprise agreement in place for FY27, how should we think about cost movements into FY28?A: David Burns (CFO) confirmed there will be a wage headwind in FY28 as the EA rates increase to compensate for the benefit received this year. However, Paul Bradshaw (Managing Director) noted the company is focused on reducing costs elsewhere in the business through initiatives like Project Ignite to offset these increases.
Q: On the effective tax rate, it was quite low in FY26. How should we think about the medium-term tax rate?A: David Burns (CFO) explained that the low rate was due to a true-up of historical tax positions. He guided that looking back over the last five years, the company has been in a range of 29-30%, and using the mid-range of that historical average would be a reasonable assumption for future determinations.
Q: On stock loss, you’re not calling out a benefit there. How are the trials going, and do you think you can recover some of the margin lost from high theft?A: Paul Bradshaw (Managing Director) reported that stock loss has stabilized, particularly in Victoria, following the implementation of measures such as gates and body-worn cameras. He noted the program will be expanded significantly before Christmas, with continued measurement of progress, and expressed satisfaction with the team’s progress on inventory discipline.
Q: On the Rebel Active loyalty program, with the World Cup driving incremental points earned, should we expect a high level of sales flow-through in H1 FY27 as members redeem those points?A: Paul Bradshaw (Managing Director) highlighted that the two-tier premium members are delivering strong results and are very valuable to the business. He noted the team is working on how to extract greater value from the next three tiers down, indicating the loyalty program is a key area of focus for driving ongoing customer engagement and value.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.