By SIMON HENDERY
Australian furniture retailer Freedom Group hopes to turn a profit in New Zealand within the next 18 months.
The group, which opened its first New Zealand Freedom store five years ago, said yesterday that it was encouraged by early sales figures from two stores-within-a-store it has opened in Tauranga and Taupo.
The concept of opening small Freedom outlets within existing Levene stores was proving a successful way of taking Freedom to smaller centres, Sydney-based managing director Rod Walker said yesterday.
A third "Freedom@Levene" store will open in New Plymouth this week and eight more are planned over the next 12 months, he said.
The group's overall New Zealand sales for the 12 months to October 3 were $27.5 million, up from $18.7 million last year.
Underlying losses on the New Zealand operation were just under $1 million, compared with $2.9 million last year.
The company believed it would turn a profit in New Zealand within the next 12 to 18 months, Mr Walker said.
Group-wide net profit for the year was $A2.7 million, down from $A11.3 million.
The company blamed the profit drop largely on $A8.8 million of abnormal write-offs associated with management restructuring.
Freedom close to NZ profit
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