Mitre 10 chief executive Lindsay Rowles\u00a0is feeling optimistic about the summer trading period ahead. Photo \/ Mitre 10<\/p>\n
Mitre 10\u2019s head office has narrowed its losses for the third straight year, but its IT-related costs have ballooned to $250 million.<\/p>\n
The company reported a loss after tax of $11.18m for the year ended June 30, 2026, down from $27.13m in 2025 and $98m in 2024. <\/p>\n
\n The company\u2019s financial results released today said revenue rose by 8% year on year to $324.5m. <\/p>\n Chief executive Lindsay Rowles emphasised that the group is focused on supporting the retailers\u2019 customers by providing \u201cgreat ranges, prices, and great strong store execution\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of work on making sure that we lower our costs as retailers do. So yes, our costs haven\u2019t gone down overall. That\u2019s important, but certainly we\u2019ve shortened the loss by a significant amount.\u201d <\/p>\n IT upgrade <\/p>\n The report said the group expensed $19.99m on cloud software this year, up from $18.2m the previous year, while only nine of the 87 stores currently run on SAP. <\/p>\n The retailer has been rolling out<\/a> cloud-based SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software since 2019.<\/p>\n The total spend was \u201ccirca $250m to date\u201d, Rowles said, \u201cThat\u2019s part of a wide range of initiatives … But as a programme, that was the number that has been invested today\u201d. <\/p>\n Rowles said he didn\u2019t have a deadline for when he wanted the other stores to live on that SAP. <\/p>\n \u201cMany businesses take very long periods of time to roll these types of software changes out, and it would only be the wrong thing if you didn\u2019t get the right experience for your team and for your customers.\u201d <\/p>\n The companies\u2019 report said this expenditure \u201chas led to the Group generating losses for several years and negative operating cash flows\u201d, and that the group relies on its debt facility to finance operations. <\/p>\n The report also noted that the group relies on the debt facility to finance its ongoing operations, and that the financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties. <\/p>\n Cost management <\/p>\n Rowles said the group has benefited from stronger retail and trade performance as well as the contributions its members make to fund strategic and infrastructure investments. <\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of costs and cost management, you know, as a retailer we have to manage that constantly, good times and bad.\u201d <\/p>\n He said the support centre company did not have a goal of making a profit and instead focused on the long-term growth of the business. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re working through strategy at the moment. I\u2019m less concerned about whether this part of the entity is profitable or not. It is a support function. It\u2019s not a profit centre per se. <\/p>\n \u201cThese large infrastructure investments are required to be a successful retailer. So, whilst you would like the balance sheet to always be strengthening, and that is certainly the agenda, it always starts with customer and store.\u201d <\/p>\n Services and levies to members grew by 19% to $80.9m, against 5% growth in sales of goods, the report said. <\/p>\n \u201cFor independent owner-operators, the strength of the co-operative is the ability to access these systems and processes that, as independent operators, they might not be able to access. So they\u2019re very much aware that those things are significant and have a cost. And it\u2019s our job to make them as beneficial and strengthen those locally operated businesses.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n target=”_self” rel=”” title=”https:\/\/www.businessdesk.co.nz\/companies\/retail\/flash-and-find-mitre-10-lights-the-way-for-shoppers\/XSQ2BR3WQVOSBOJIBQ6BJ6QFQQ\/”>Mitre 10 New Zealand<\/a> Ltd operates as a cost centre providing centralised services to the individually owned stores across the country.\n <\/p>\n