{"id":93710,"date":"2025-10-22T06:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T06:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/93710\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T06:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T06:26:08","slug":"michael-hill-new-zealand-store-sales-down-in-first-update-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/93710\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Hill New Zealand store sales down in first update for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs we turn the page to a new chapter, we are excited to welcome our new CEO, Jonathan Waecker<\/a>. Jonathan\u2019s appointment marks a pivotal moment for the Michael Hill Group, bringing fresh leadership and new perspectives to guide our next phase of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August, the business reported flat revenue of $643.7 million<\/a> for the year to June 29. <\/p>\n

But because of strong gross-margin management, it was able to make a net profit of $2.1m, bouncing back after the previous year\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n

However, New Zealand sales were down 5.5% compared with 4.4% growth in Canada and 1.2% growth in Australia.<\/p>\n

\"RobRob Fyfe (left) was planning to retire from Michael Hill’s board, but the death of Sir Michael Hill and former CEO Daniel Bracken required him to remain for continuity.<\/p>\n

That trend has continued in an update to shareholders for the first 16 weeks of the 2026 financial year, with total group sales down by 1.3%. That was partly influenced by a 4.4% reduction in stores over the period, down from 297 stores to 284.<\/p>\n

Group same-store sales were flat compared to the same period in the previous year, with same store sales up 0.7% in Australia and up 4.1% in Canada. The New Zealand segment, however, was down by 6.2%.<\/p>\n

The result did provide positive momentum on the business\u2019 product and brand initiatives, with group gross margin recovery of roughly 100 basis points.<\/p>\n

Fyfe said the business had taken decisive actions to strengthen its balance sheet, optimise inventory and reduce capital expenditure, ensuring it is well-positioned for sustainable growth and to leverage any recovery in market conditions.<\/p>\n

He also mentioned a deliberate emphasis on embracing artificial intelligence (AI) across all facets of the business, with education for team members and integration with a range of business processes.<\/p>\n

Looking to the festive season and the year ahead Waecker said the business was encouraged by the 100-basis-point lift in group gross margin and the performance of the Canada segment.<\/p>\n

The business is planning to introduce new collections, including a vermeil gold-plated option, and broadening a range of customer favourites. It is also planning to expand its Christmas gift sets to support the peak trading period.<\/p>\n

A new flagship store is set to open in Sydney\u2019s Bondi in late October, along with the refurbishment of the brand\u2019s Yorkdale store in Canada.<\/p>\n

Waecker finished the meeting by thanking shareholders for their continued support and said he had begun a review of the business\u2019 strategy to ensure its long-time success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile our foundations are strong, I see opportunities to sharpen our focus, accelerate innovation and deepen customer engagement. I look forward to working with the team as we build on our strengths and shape the next chapter of growth together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Hill shares were down 1c to 40.5c today and are down more than 26% over the last year.<\/p>\n

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n

Listen and subscribe to the Today in Business<\/a> podcast \u2013 the top headlines from the NZ Herald business team summarised and delivered by an artificial intelligence (AI) voice as an easily digestible recap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAs we turn the page to a new chapter, we are excited to welcome our new CEO, Jonathan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2246,3225,4765,138,1308,36173,6097,1888,2082,31037,21520,78,1019,700,2374,5494,117,111,139,69,17286,667,8816,26264,2735,7235,1803,80],"class_list":["post-93710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-2246","tag-according","tag-annual","tag-business","tag-compared","tag-continuing","tag-down","tag-first","tag-for","tag-hill","tag-hills","tag-in","tag-international","tag-latest","tag-meeting","tag-michael","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-operation","tag-sales","tag-segments","tag-shareholder","tag-store","tag-struggle","tag-update","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}