Super Cheap Auto Group has increased full year profit by 18.4 per cent and says growing confidence will drive retail spending higher in the second half of the current year.
The auto accessories retailer posted annual net profit of $38.053 million in the year to July 3, up from $32.14 million in the previous year.
Revenue from continuing operations grew 13.2 per cent to $938.76 million.
The Group says it plans to open 10 to 15 new auto stores and 20 new leisure stores in the coming 12 months.
Super Cheap chief executive officer Peter Birtles said it expected market confidence to continue to grow in the current year.
"While we expect the general outlook for retail trading to remain uncertain in the lead up to Christmas, we also expect that increasing confidence will start to drive retail spending in the second half of the coming year," Mr Birtles said.
"Over the past few years, our businesses have grown at a faster rate than the markets in which they operate and we expect this to continue in the coming years," he said.
"Each of our businesses has a number of retail, product and marketing initiatives underway to drive sales and margin growth in the future.
"We continue to have a full store development agenda, so anticipate opening between 10 and 15 new stores in the Auto and Cycle Retailing division and around 20 stores in the Leisure Retailing division in the coming 12 months.
"We also expect to refurbish another 30 Supercheap Auto stores (including three as Superstores), close two Supercheap Auto stores, and relocate a number of Goldcross Cycles stores.
"We remain confident in the strength of our business model and we see continued growth opportunities for our businesses in the coming year," Mr Birtles said.
Super Cheap said the retail environment had been tough during 2009-10, although the company opened 11 stores during the year, bringing total store numbers to 267.
Supercheap Auto reported like-for-like sales grew by five per cent in 2009-10, driven by product innovations, marketing and promotion and improved sales presence.
"Sales growth was strong in the electrical, interior, tools and storage, carcare, and lubricants categories," Mr Birtles said.
"A market-wide decline in demand and retail prices for car audio/visual, navigation, and performance products impacted sales for these categories."
Mr Birtle said Goldcross Cycles experienced a challenging period following a market-wide decline in sales for bicycles and accessories.
Sales in its 11 Melbourne stores fell 10 per cent, although this was countered by a 37 per cent increase in sales in Queensland.
The leisure division, consisting of Rays Outdoors and Boating Camping and Fishing, returned a 23.2 per cent sales increase to $253.2 million.
Super Cheap Auto Group will pay a final dividend of 13 cents per share, fully franked.
AAP