The Pacific Retail Group, which runs the Noel Leeming, Bond & Bond and Computer City chains, has signalled plans to increase its market share with or without the cooperation of whiteware manufacturer Fisher & Paykel.
The company's acting managing director, Stefan Preston, indicated yesterday the company was still keento strike a deal with Fisher & Paykel, which will only deal with retailers on an exclusive basis.
However, he also warned Pacific Retail was exploring other options.
"We're not going to wait around for them. There's nothing to report at this point other than we're building our ability to take share in the whiteware sector, and we've got all sorts of cunning plans afoot for that."
The company confirmed yesterday that sales in the six months to the end of September rose 4.5 per cent to $177 million, compared to the same period last year.
Without one-off costs, its pre-tax profit for the half-year was up from $4.5 million to $5.1 million. However, $2.3 million of one-off costs, including its settlement with former managing director Nick Lowe and restructuring of its finance arm, have again marred its net profit, reducing it from $2.5 million last year to $1.9 million.
The company has changed the securitisation arrangements for its finance arm, shifting to a bank-funded facility. Not all its $100 million finance book was able to be on-sold, resulting in $1.3 million worth of hire purchase receivables being written off as bad debts.
The company, which is now majority owned by Eric Watson's Logan Corporation, will again not pay a dividend.
Meanwhile, it has finally reached agreement with Mr Lowe over his severance payout.
It will pay him $975,000 in severance, including a restraint of trade payment of $200,000.
Previous majority owner Murray International agreed to contribute $536,000 to the settlement, which for tax reasons has been paid by issuing a single new share to Logan Corporation.
Although the payment breaches stock exchange listing rules, the market surveillance panel agreed to grant a waiver, dependent on an independent report.
The report, by Grant Samuel, says the deal is in the best interest of minority shareholders.
Mr Lowe left the company in June after it refused to continue paying him the equivalent of $1.1 million a year.