CaratMichael Hill adds 2%, and closes eight stores to do it
Group revenue rose 2% to A$654.7 million in the year to June 28, with same-store sales up 3% and Canada a record 7%. The chain closed eight stores and opened two.
§1Sales up, footprint down.
Michael Hill has finished its financial year with the shape a mature chain wants and rarely gets: sales up, footprint down. Group revenue for the twelve months to June 28 was A$654.7 million, about $459.5 million, an increase of 2%. Same-store sales, the measure that strips out the effect of opening and closing shops, rose 3% across the group. The chain closed eight stores over the year and opened two, ending with 281: 157 in Australia, 81 in Canada and 43 in New Zealand.
Canada is the number that stands out. Same-store sales there rose 7%, which the company describes as a record, on segment revenue of C$169.3 million, about $120.8 million. Australia, much the largest market, grew same-store sales 4.8% on revenue of A$364.6 million. New Zealand, the group's home market and its smallest, grew 3.6% on NZ$108.9 million. All three markets grew on a like-for-like basis in the same year, which has not been a common outcome in mid-market jewellery retail through 2026.
§2Canada is the number that stands out.
The closures are the strategy rather than the casualty. Four Australian stores, two Canadian and two New Zealand shops went, against one opening in Australia and one in Canada, a net reduction of six on a base of 287. A chain that removes 2% of its doors while adding 3% on a like-for-like basis is converting store count into store productivity, which is the only lever available to a mall-anchored jeweller facing rents that do not fall and a metal cost that does not either.
A chain that removes 2% of its doors while adding 3% on a like-for-like basis is converting store count into store productivity
§3The closures are the strategy.
The result belongs to a wider pattern this desk has been tracking all summer. Gold above $4,000 an ounce has pushed the mid-market toward lighter pieces, higher average tickets and fewer units, and the chains reporting well are the ones with pricing architecture rather than volume. Chief executive Jonathan Waecker put the emphasis on the second half, saying growth was "significantly accelerating in Canada and New Zealand". The group has not disclosed earnings alongside these sales figures, which is the missing half of the picture.
Judge this one again when the profit line lands, because 2% of revenue growth against a metal that rose for most of the year is compatible with several very different margin outcomes. What is already legible is the store maths, and it is the right maths. Mid-market jewellery has spent a decade being told to close doors and has mostly closed them in defeat, after the like-for-like number had already collapsed. Closing eight while the remaining shops each sell 3% more is the same action taken from a position of choice, and it is the difference between managing a decline and managing a portfolio.
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Fewer buyers, spending more, carried the half.