School children's demand for laptops have kept the tills ringing at JB Hi-Fi.
The electronic goods retailer's sales climbed by 8.9 per cent in January, with like-for-like sales up seven per cent.
Both results were better-than-expected and surpassed sales made a year ago, chief executive Richard Murray said.
He said the back to school trade drove up laptop sales and offset a market wide slump in demand for tablets.
"Back to school has now become a more critical trading period for us," Mr Murray said.
"As we go into the second half... the next most important month for us outside of Christmas is year end tax time and again that's about computers. We are doing really well in that space."
JB Hi-Fi's like-for-like sales, which excludes store openings and closures, fell 0.7 per cent in the six months to December 31, due to soft tablet sales, particularly felt during the first three months.
Total sales were up 1.3 per cent, driven by the opening of new stores.
Mr Murray said there's a trend for consumers to hang onto their tablets for the longterm while smartphones have a higher turnaround.
The company made a net profit of $88.5 million for the six months to December 31, compared to $90.4 million a year ago.
It has reaffirmed its full-year sales forecast of $3.6 billion and expects full year net profit to be in the range of $127 million to $131 million, compared to $128 million in 2013/14.
The results have brought a smile to investors, with the share price rising 30 cents, or 1.79 per cent, to $17.05.
Morningstar equity analyst Farina Parsons said JB Hi-Fi's results were largely positive but the company's downgrading of guidance for Home, its home entertainment and appliance business sparked a short selloff.
"The January result was really good which saw the share price rise," she said.
"But there was a slight pullback because of reduced guidance from JB Hi-Fi Home, its growth division."
The company's target of about $5 million incremental sales a year for Home has been backdated to "in the medium term."
It's planning to have 52 JB Hi-Fi Home stores across Australia and New Zealand by the end of 2014/15.
So far, 39 have opened, including three new stores and 14 converted stores in the first half.
Weak tablet sales dent JB Hi-Fi's first half year earnings:
*Half year net profit of $88.5m, down 1.9 pct from $90.4m in 2013/14
*Revenue of $1.97b, up 1.3 pct from $1.94 billion
*Interim dividend of 59 cents a share up 7.3 pct from 55 cents.
Share
