Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd on Thursday posted a 25% rise in half-year profit due to strong demand for household goods as consumers took on more home-related projects during COVID-19 restrictions.
"Customers spending more time working, learning and relaxing at home, in part due to travel restrictions, continued to support strong demand in some product categories," the company said.
Government stimulus designed to support households and businesses also helped its retail sales, Wesfarmers said.
Net profit after tax from continuing operations for six months rose to A$1.41 billion ($1.09 billion) from A$1.13 billion a year earlier, ahead of a Goldman Sachs consensus estimate of A$1.27 billion.
The Bunnings hardware division added a large chunk of the retailer's earnings, bringing in A$1.27 billion in pre-tax earnings for six months.
Total online sales more than doubled, underscoring the retailer's growing reliance on digital shopping amid changing customer preferences during the pandemic.
The company declared an interim dividend of 88 cents per share, up from 75 cents per share last year.
($1 = 1.2907 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Arundhati Dutta and Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
