Latest / Best of Business / Rod Duke: Briscoe Group managing director on the retailer reporting a lift in revenue

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Rod Duke: Briscoe Group managing director on the retailer reporting a lift in revenue · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
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  Speaker 2: Now, one of the country's biggest retailers has reported record
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  Speaker 2: sales for the first half of this year. Briscoe Group,
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  Speaker 2: which owns Briscoes and Rebel Sport, has reported group sales
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  Speaker 2: of $ 374 million. That's up about $ 3 million compared to
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  Speaker 2: last year, but the profit is down a wee bit,
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  Speaker 2: down 6% compared to the first half of last year.
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  Speaker 2: Rod Duke is Briscoe Group Managing Director and with us.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Rod. Hi, Heather.
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  Speaker 2: Mixed feelings about this one?
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  Speaker 3: I reckon it's actually a pretty good one, really. When
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  Speaker 3: you have a look at the result, Ripple was on
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  Speaker 3: fire and Briscoe's missed by some 700,000, which was basically
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  Speaker 3: a late chilly season to winter, which fortunately I've got
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  Speaker 3: it back in August, but my half ends in July.
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  Speaker 2: And, of course, what that means is if it's not
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  Speaker 2: that chilly, people don't go into Briscoe's and buy some heaters, right?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Now, what about the sports? So what is it? Because,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we've had the most amazing run of sports.
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  Speaker 2: Have people, as a result of that, gone into Rebel
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  Speaker 2: to get the balls, or is it the jerseys, or
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  Speaker 2: what is it?
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  Speaker 3: It's all of those things. With FIFA, Auckland FC, the
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  Speaker 3: Bois are on fire, and we had a Wild Black Series.
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  Speaker 3: So we've sort of got the trifecta, really, all in
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  Speaker 3: one half year.
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  Speaker 2: Do you see, I mean, I can understand people wanting
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  Speaker 2: to buy the merch, like the jerseys, but do you
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  Speaker 2: see people actually looking at the telly going, geez, that
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  Speaker 2: football actually looks quite fun, I might go get a
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  Speaker 2: ball and kick around the backyard a bit?
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  Speaker 3: I think actually what happens is that Dad brings a
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  Speaker 3: couple of kids into the store, they throw basketball hoops
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  Speaker 3: and walk out with a basketball and a football. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know whether they're always planned purchases, but look, you
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  Speaker 3: never got too many footballs at home, have you?
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  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. There's balls everywhere all of the time. What,
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  Speaker 2: what's going on with the economy? What are you seeing? Has, have,
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  Speaker 2: are you seeing a clear turn and an uplift?
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  Speaker 3: Look, so far as, as we see, we, we actually
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  Speaker 3: saw a bit of an upturn, um, immediately prior to
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  Speaker 3: this Iran business. Um, Since then, you can see record sales,
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  Speaker 3: they were tough to get. But I think there's one thing.
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  Speaker 3: We're certainly off the trough. We're off the bottom of
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  Speaker 3: the cycle, I think. But I guess the big question
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  Speaker 3: is really what happens between now and Christmas and how
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  Speaker 3: steep will that return to normal business be?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what does your gut tell you? Because you've been
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  Speaker 2: around a long time.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, you're quite right, Heather.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's not pejorative. That's complimentary.
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  Speaker 3: No, no. Look, I guess the one spanner in the
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  Speaker 3: works is probably the election. You know, I don't think
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  Speaker 3: anybody's terribly confident either way. And look, we could end
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  Speaker 3: up just with a horror story if we're not, if
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  Speaker 3: we think it's as close as it's going to be. Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Because you've been around a long time and you've been
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  Speaker 2: doing what you're doing a long time. You've got a
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  Speaker 2: lot of expertise. Did you have a gut reaction to
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  Speaker 2: the National Party's supermarket policy?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I saw that this afternoon, as a matter of fact.
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  Speaker 3: I really don't know what to make of it. It
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  Speaker 3: certainly has the potential to increase competition because there's no
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  Speaker 3: other serious player that's either going to enter the market
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  Speaker 3: or into the category from where I sit. And I
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  Speaker 3: guess they're just left with the impression that those participants
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  Speaker 3: are making way too much money and it ought to
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  Speaker 3: be broken up.
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  Speaker 2: Will it have the chilling effect that Business New Zealanders
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  Speaker 2: warned of?
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  Speaker 3: I think that governments move in this way at their
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  Speaker 3: own peril. You know, it's a very, very ballsy sort
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  Speaker 3: of move. and I don't think there's too many industries
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  Speaker 3: where they can. Well, they've already moved in terms of
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  Speaker 3: the electricity supply business, have they not?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think New Zealand First is the
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  Speaker 2: one that's pitched the idea of breaking up the gen
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  Speaker 2: tailors and has had a bit of backing from Simon Bridges,
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  Speaker 2: who's on the periphery of the National Party, I suppose.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I guess you've first got to form the view
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  Speaker 3: that there's serious gouging, and I'm not close enough to
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  Speaker 3: know that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interesting time. Have you ever seen a
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  Speaker 2: more nutty election than this?
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  Speaker 3: No, no, this is going to be crazy. This is
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  Speaker 3: just going to be crazy.
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  Speaker 2: Mate, I totally agree with you here. Best of luck
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  Speaker 2: to all of us dealing with it. Rod, it's been
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  Speaker 2: a delight to talk to you as always. You look
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  Speaker 2: after yourself. Rod Duke, Briscoe Group Managing Director.
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