Are these 3 NZX retail stocks worth exploring in 2022?

Highlights

• Kiwi shoppers have been on a spending spree for last many days.
• Core retail merchants handled $696 million in transactions in the week to 4 January.
• The last week of spending for 2021 was a solid close to a year marked by border closures and travel curbs.

New Zealanders continued with their spending binge at core retailers in the last week of 2021 and initial days of 2022.

New spending statistics from a payment solution firm, Wordline, showed that Kiwis hoarded things for New Year’s Eve. The statistics revealed that core retail merchants, excluding hospitality outlets, handled $696 million in transactions in the week to 4 January, up 7% than the same 7 days a year before.

Let’s look at 3 NZX retail stocks that can be explored this year.

Image source: © 2021 Kalkine Media®, Data source- EODHD/Others

Michael Hill International Limited (NZX:MHJ; ASX:MHJ)

Renowned jewelery retailer Michael Hill’s stores opened worldwide for the Christmas trading period, after experiencing store closure from July to November due to COVID-19 uncertainties. MHJ successfully steered through the pandemic due to robust sales growth and continued margin expansion.

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The Group expects much higher results in the first half of FY22 as compared to H1 FY21. WHS plans to reveal its H1 FY22 results on 23 February 2022.

On 5 January, at the time of writing, MHJ was trading at $1.5.

The Warehouse Group Limited (NZX:WHS)

The Warehouse Group, one of the biggest and most prominent retail groups in NZ, attained record results in FY21 despite the COVID-19 pandemic causing disturbances and uncertainty in New Zealand and the rest of the world.

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Group sales and gross profit margins increased by 7.6% and 36.4%, respectively, in the period. the reopening of stores in November resulted in a significant increase in sales and cashflow.

The Group paid a final dividend of 17.5cps on 3 December.

On 5 January, at the time of writing, WHS was trading at $4.08, up 0.74%.

Briscoe Group Limited (NZX:BGP; ASX:BGP)

Briscoe, a leading sports and goods retailer, witnessed a 9.52% rise in overall sales for the 39 weeks ended 31 October 2021, bringing total sales to $496.9 million. However, sales were affected partially amid the August lockdown.

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The Group’s sporting goods segment saw a rise of 9.5% and its homeware segment saw a rise of 9.53% in the period. The Group expects an NPAT of about $85 million in FY22 despite COVID-19-related interruptions in Q3.

On 5 January, at the time of writing, BGP was trading at $6.83, down 0.29%.

Bottom Line

The last week of spending for 2021 was a solid close to a year marked by border closures and travel curbs surrounding Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.

(NOTE: Currency is reported in NZ Dollar unless stated otherwise)